Our Editor always extols his contributors to be positive and generally upbeat in our articles for The Pirate but I have to say that writing on the morning following our disastrous defeat to Barnet here in last Wednesday’s F.A. Cup 1st Round replay that is much easier said than done! Three home ‘exits’ to non-League opposition in four seasons, as well as an F.A. Trophy defeat at the ‘Mem’ to former landlords, Bath City, is a hard pill for any ‘Gashead’ to swallow but suffer it we do and we move on to quote the Manager.
I suppose the silver lining to the cloud, if there was one, has to be a first goal in over a year for Tom Nichols. Whatever your view on him I have to say that he works tirelessly for the team and Tom fully deserved to score at last. Let’s hope that simple ‘stab-in’ from only a yard or so out opens the floodgates for Tom and he can now fully regain for us the goal-scoring touch he had with his previous clubs. The collapse that followed after Rovers had finally taken a deserved lead in the Barnet tie came on the back of successive defeats in the Checkatrade Trophy with a ‘weakened’ team at Exeter and another home loss in the League to Scunthorpe which were both mainly as a result of lack of firepower.
My personal mood of forboding is enhanced by the prospect of last Saturday’s visit to the Valley where Rovers’ appalling record has not recoorded a single victory in six decades! Perhaps it all came right there at last and we can start climbing the table again, beginning with tonight’s vital game against Gillingham so please get behind the boys in blue as you always do. The support at all our matches, both home and away, has been fantastic considering the situation and I’m sure the corner can be turned if the ‘Gas’ stay behind the lads for the rest of the season. Up the Pirates!
Jim Chappell.