So, the ‘beast from the east’ has come and gone and by now has left little trace, if any, of the chaos and disruption that led up to last weekend.
For us at Rovers it meant that our planned trip to Buckinghamshire was put in serious doubt right up to the morning of the match itself with MK Dons telling us that their pitch, thanks to undersoil heating was perfectly playable, as indeed it turned out to be, whilst the Avon & Somerset Police were telling everybody to stay at home and not to attempt to travel on the west’s snow-swept roads.
The result was a big dilema especially for the Supporters Club Committee with two coaches booked for members to travel and in excess of 900 tickets having been sold for the game at Stadium MK. Our contracted coach company, Eagle Travel, were happy to go and had been to London only the previous day with no serious problems so we were left with having to decide between police advice and the pressure of having booked and sold two coaches for a match we were being told was not in any doubt.
Fortunately I believe we made the right choice and took the gamble to go although unfortunately 27 booked travellers could not dig themselves out of their homes in time. As it turned out all the main roads in north Bristol were clear by Saturday morning, as were the M4 and all the trunk roads leading to MK. We drove into a sea of slush around the ground but the pitch was in perfect shape and Rovers turned in a great performance to clinch three valuable points, added to which there was a stellar League debut from 18 year-old Luke Russe fresh from the Supporters Club sponsored Development squad! The Committee gathered for our regular monthly meeting last Tuesday so you should all be aware of our compensation arrangements by now if you were one of those who missed out on a what was a good day in the end!
