The start of the 19/20 season has been a fairly mixed one for Bristol Rovers, a team that most people thought would finish in mid-table this season and currently find themselves twelfth after five games.
Indeed, there have already been some highs and lows as the rollercoaster that is a football season has come back around once again. I would like to begin by paying tribute to Junior Agogo who sadly passed aged just 40 years old last week. The Ghanaian international striker played 140 times for Rovers between 2003 and 2006, scoring 41 times before moving to Nottingham Forest.
In trademark Rovers fashion, the side lost on opening day at Blackpool, going down 2-0 at Bloomfield Road. In spite of the result, there were a number of positives to take from a performance where, in spells, Rovers looked the better side. Graham Coughlan set up in a 4-3-3 system, one he had favoured during pre-season. When we were on top in the first-half we looked dangerous when the full-backs, Leahy and Little could pick the ball up and aim for Rodman and Bennett ahead of them, then get beyond them creating overloads and crossing opportunities. The gas started the brightest and almost took an early lead when Ollie Clarke picked the ball up in the Blackpool half, played a one-two with Bennett and burst into the box, only to see his strike come back off the base of the post. Blackpool then took the lead when Jaakola, making his Rovers debut, came off his line to punch a cross only to catch a Blackpool player with his fist. Spearing dispatched the resulting penalty. In the second half, Coughlan switched to a 4-4-2 diamond and Rovers were fairly tame. Blackpool doubled their advantage when Spearing found Gnanduillet with a perfectly measured cross from deep, Luke Leahy had got the wrong side of Gnanduillet who finished from close range. Rovers hit the post late on but never really looked like getting back into the game. New signing Tom Davies was probably the standout performer for Rovers, meanwhile for Blackpool both Spearing and centre back Tilt put in very good performances.
The following weekend Wycombe were the visitors at The Mem for the first home game of the new season. Coughlan started with a 4-4-2, dropping Rodman and Bennett and bringing in Ogogo and Nichols. This system won us a lot of points towards the tail end of last season but is widely criticised amongst Rovers fans for stifling the side going forward, we lack width and don’t have the personnel needed to break teams down. This was particularly evident against a Gareth Ainsworth side who always make it hard to play football, they sat deep, broke the game up and were very physical. Rovers lacked width and whilst they probably just edged the game, Wycombe had the best chance late on when Davies stopped ex Coventry teammate Jack Grimmers’ effort on the goal line. Davies and Craig at centre back the stand out Rovers performers, whilst Jacobson and Grimmer both had good games at full back for Wycombe. Akinfenwa was a handful as ever. Mark Little limping off with an early injury was disappointing to see and hopefully, he’ll be back on the pitch soon.
Michael Duffs Cheltenham Town were next to visit Horfield, and the Robins were fresh from an impressive (at the time!) 4-1 victory over Scunthorpe United. Coughlan went with the same system and made a couple of changes, most notably the return of last seasons top scorer Johnson Clarke-Harris. The gas turned in a dominant performance against their League Two opponents. Full backs Hare and Leahy were able to get higher up the pitch and this resulted in a greater amount of crossing opportunities. Tyler Smith was outstanding, he ran the channels really well and always looked to get in behind the Cheltenham defence. His first goal was scrappy, capitalising on an error from Scott Flinders who didn’t have a great night between the sticks. His second was the result of some clever forward play, he found space in between left-back Debayo and centre back Greaves and was picked out well by Ollie Clarke before finishing well. Bennet then found Smith occupying a similar position with a great ball and Smith, on a hat-trick, squared the ball to Clarke-Harris to add the third. An unselfish piece of play from Smith showing maturity beyond his years. Obviously, no Rovers fan was getting carried away with a home win against lower league opposition but as the cliché goes ‘you can only beat what’s in front of you.’
Coughlan stuck with the diamond and named an unchanged side as Rovers headed to Coventry’s adopted home, St. Andrews. Rovers, still searching for their first league goal of the season turned in an insipid away performance and went down 2-0 at the hands of the sky blues. I saw a fairly alarming map showing the average positions of the players during this game and all of the players were extremely central. Coventry took the lead in first-half stoppage time, Leahy was caught out on the left by Jobello who crossed to Jordan Shipley to score. Without creating much Rovers did have a spell of pressure in the second half, resulting in Tom Davies thinking he had equalised against his former club only for it to be disallowed. Referee Ross Joyce has since admitted that he was wrong to rule out this goal but as it happened Gervane Kastaneer doubled Coventry’s advantage ten minutes from time. The side were booed from the pitch and it seemed as though pressure was building a little on Graham Coughlan with Rovers still winless.
Tranmere’s trip to BS7 marked the beginning of a big week for the gas with two home games to come. Coughlan switched to a 5-3-2 system with the backline consisting of Davies, Kilgour and Craig at centre back, Leahy on the left and Hare on the right. In the midfield were Clarke, Upson and Ogogo and Smith and Clarke-Harris continuing their new partnership up front. Rovers looked far and away the better team and took a deserved first-half lead when Josh Hare crossed from deep to Johnson Clarke-Harris who found the bottom right corner. After the break Tranmere self-imploded, two needless red cards for Blackett-Taylor and Banks saw the visitors reduced to ten men and ironically this is where Rovers looked worst in the game, almost panicked. Eventually, the gas put the game to bed when another Hare cross found Smith who was fouled by George Ray. Smith got up and sent Scott Davies the wrong way. Josh Hare was possibly the best player on the pitch for Rovers, amongst a number of good performances from all over the park.
With the important first League win secured Rovers could turn their attention to the visit of Oxford United. Normally a fiery fixture, this was one was enhanced further by the fact that Matty Taylor had signed on loan for Oxford in the week, making his first appearance at The Mem since his controversial switch to Bristol City on deadline day in January 2017. The villain of the piece was in for a barrage of abuse from the home faithful and before he limped off the pitch after half an hour, he had miscued a shot from six yards, fallen over on the ball and been booked for an elbow. Many Gasheads would call this something along the lines of karma. In that opening half an hour Oxford had taken the lead when Liverpool loanee Ben Woodburn bent one past Jaakola from the edge of the area. Rovers finished the first half really strongly and drew level when Ed Upson hit an outstanding volley from miles out, before taking the lead when another Clarke-Harris header nestled in the bottom right of Eastwoods’ goal.
The second almost a carbon copy of the opener against Tranmere, with Hare crossing from the right. In the second half Oxford dominated the ball for long periods with Rovers looking to hit them on the break. Smith had a goal disallowed as Clarke-Harris committed a foul, Coughlan then switched both Smith and Clarke-Harris for Adeboyejo and Nichols, the latter adding a third with ten minutes left. For all of Oxfords possession they struggled to create clear cut chances, even with their goal which had come from outside the box. Indeed the stats do tell the story of this one, the U’s having 60% of the ball and completing 431 passes to Rovers 286. Rovers had seven of their ten shots from inside the box suggesting they were able to create goalscoring opportunities whilst only five of Oxfords eleven efforts came from within the area. Ultimately a young Oxford side were beaten on the counter-attack by a Rovers outfit who dominated them physically and were far more clinical with their chances.
As I said at the start it has been a mixed start to the campaign for Bristol Rovers, and after the last two results, there are definitely some positives to take from the opening fixtures. The gas host Premier League Brighton and Hove Albion on Tuesday in the League Cup second round and will be looking to build upon a solid start at home this season by causing an upset.
Up the gas!