AWAY THE GAS
BY DARREN STOBBS
We set off for Whaddon Road for the second time this season, after beating Cheltenham in the EFL Trophy back in early October.
Leaving The Mem at 11:15am, everyone seemed in good spirits and thinking that the horrendous run of recent results had to end soon.
We arrived at Cheltenham’s ground at 12:25pm. It’s one of those grounds where, when you get off the motorway you only have five miles to go, yet it seems to take just as long to get to the ground itself!
The rain was set in for the day, as we headed to The Parklands Social Club next door to the ground. The place was already very busy with a large number of Rovers fans present and with also a small number of Cheltenham Town fans as well.
Filled rolls and sausage rolls were on offer and the drinks were reasonably priced, with one punter saying ‘I’ll have two at that price!’ as the drink he purchased was £3.60p. A well known Rovers song about ‘The red red robin”’was being sung and my friend reminded me that the Cheltenham fans themselves may have thought we were singing about them! With three teams in either Bristol, or not far away, having the same nickname.
The venue also let customers bring in burgers and chips from the local burger van in the car park. Having got one at the previous match, I again purchased a cheeseburger with onions for £4 only. Adding chips would only cost an extra £2 for anyone tempted.
On our last outing to Cheltenham, the steward would not allow this food to be taken into the ground. However, on this occasion there were no issues and the stewards were very friendly in and around the side stand.
There was some banter going back and forth with a single Cheltenham fan, who was determined to stand his ground, to the humour of both sets of supporters. However, it eventually ended with the shake of hands, which is nice to see nowadays!
On to the match, which started brightly for Rovers with plenty of possession but no end result and we failed to trouble the Cheltenham goalkeeper.
It was the type of game that was looking to end 0-0 or be settled by one goal.
In the second half the game became a more even contest. On the 70th minute, a corner from the right was delivered to the far post. The unmarked Tomkinson got to the ball ahead of everyone and scored what proved to be the winning goal.
Our heads seemed to drop, as it does many times when we fall behind, but the positive minded loanee Freddie Issaka was giving a good account of himself on the left side.
As the last few minutes were being played out, frustration was heard from the away end. None of which was being directed to Darrell Clarke, but to the players themselves and the owners of our football club.
A lot of the players fell to their knees at the full time whistle, it was almost like they had been relegated. I did then wonder if they knew something we didn’t, with Darrell having to oversee yet another poor result on this terrible run.
Darrell said in his interview afterwards that Sotiriou and Forde were left out of the squad due to not showing enough in training ‘not the right intensity or attitude’.
Something all too familiar to us Gasheads that we saw from most of the players involved last season and a fair few still with us now.
I was disappointed to see that our Football Club website edited that part of Darrell’s interview and if you want to see it, head over to the Bristol Live (Bristol Post) website.
The last time we lost seven on the bounce was the end of the 2020/21 season and going into the start of the 2021/22 season.
The last time we lost eight in a row was back in 2002 under Ray Graydon – something we most definitely don’t want to equal v Notts. County – which will certainly be a
tough game.
My Man of the Match was Jack Sparkes, delivering some decent crosses on the left wing, with no anticipation in the box. The Supporters Club coach vote was Kamil Conteh.
ATT: 5,465 with 1,519 Rovers fans.
We left Whaddon Road at 5:10pm and arrived back at The Mem at 6:20pm.
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