AWAY THE GAS
BY DARREN STOBBS
What a turnaround of results in the past couple of months.
From a team lurking dangerously above the drop zone, to then an almost certainly of staying up before the Harrogate Town away game.
Any Gashead would have snapped your hand off at that situation back in February.
Although I had every faith in Steve Evans keeping us up, I thought it may have been a bit tighter than the current table suggests!
Therefore, all credit goes to Steve and Paul, for this amazing turnaround in fortunes.
Before leaving for our long trip up north to Harrogate, I was thinking a draw would be a decent result against a team fighting for their EFL survival.
We left The Mem at 7:30am on a near full Supporters Club coach and had a decent journey, beating a lot of the Bank Holiday traffic. We stopped for 50 minutes on the A1(M) before arriving in Harrogate at 12:25pm.
After doing some research, ‘The Woodlands Pub’ jogged my memory as being the place I visited four and half years ago, when we last played Harrogate (our only other visit to date).
This pub was a 10 minute walk away and was a drinking and eating establishment. Theakston’s best bitter was my choice of real ale on offer. There was also one other ale on offer, along with an array of choices usually seen around other pubs. These all at reasonable prices in this affluent area of North Yorkshire. One of our friends had a meal here, scampi & chips, which looked a fine choice. Sky Sports was also on offer, showing the live lunchtime match.
We then headed back to the ground. On entry, the bar is kept to a separate area to the food kiosk. There were several food options available and were much different to the ordinary fare at a football ground. It was a difficult and spoilt choice to make. A guy I spoke to, who is a regular on the coach, said the game pie was fantastic, so that made my mind up. Priced at a fair £4.80p, it didn’t disappoint. Smaller than your average pie, but you could tell the quality overruled that factor.
On to the match and it was certainly a game of two halves. The first half was poor from our perspective, with Harrogate better on and off the ball. The home side opened up the Rovers defence on a number of occasions, and if it wasn’t for poor finishing we could have found ourselves with an uphill battle. We went 1-0 down from a great strike on the angle of the box into the top corner.
I was expecting changes at half time and with the introduction of Tommy Leigh and Ellis Harrison, we looked to threaten from the start of the second half. This then turned us into the much the better side, throughout the rest of the match. Shaq Forde got an equaliser with an excellent low curling shot from the edge of the box.
However, Harrogate took the lead once again, with a shot high into the net from six yards. It wasn’t long before we got another leveller. This time with good work from Forde on the right, producing a low cross and Harrison finishing cleverly from close range.
Fabrizio Cavegn was then brought down for a penalty and Harrison hit the spot kick low into the net for 2-3. Shaq Forde was my Man of the Match, looking dangerous in front of goal and also bringing others into play.
ATTENDANCE: 3,610 with a decent following of 743 Rovers fans – this respected by the home fans!
We left Harrogate at 5:10pm, stopping for 25 minutes on the way home, arriving at The Mem for 9:40pm.
Next up a home game against Crawley Town, with a lunchtime kick off; they are also in a relegation scrap. We, however, can now play a big part in the outcome of probably three of the last four fixtures with regards to the promotion/relegation battles.
The old saying ‘Football’s a funny game’ couldn’t be truer. When we were on a dismal run earlier in the season, we were all wondering where the next win was coming from. Now we are all going to matches believing we can beat anyone put in front of us.
