Post by mehewmagic on Oct 22, 2015 9:20:15 GMT
Bit late but my JPT related article for the Bristol Post is now available.
www.bristolpost.co.uk/BRISTOL-ROVERS-BLOG-G-Gas-dream-JPT/story-28027545-detail/story.html
It also includes my far too short tribute to Lee Brown, whose 200th gas appearance seemed to go un-noticed. He didn't even realise it either.
Full text below...
BRISTOL ROVERS BLOG: G is for Gas - I dream of the JPT (part one)
By Martin Bull
AFTER receiving a First Round bye in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy (JPT), and smiting the mighty Chairboys in the Second Round we were rather suddenly propelled into the Area Quarter-Finals and just three fixtures from Wembley.
The JPT match was certainly value for money and a joy to watch, with both teams entering the field at breakneck speed. As much as I dislike the Chairboys for their disgraceful handling of the abandoned match in 2012, you have to admire the way they played in the first half, with pace, passing and positivity. It left them open at the back though and after a quick two goal blast Gasheads were in JPT dreamland. Wycombe's best chance of a come back seemed to be a high tempo game, and the ref seemed determined to help them out, allowing every bad challenge to slip by him and the game to resemble an endless, but breathtaking, tennis rally. Somehow we managed to weather the storm (pun intended), aided by poor finishing and a couple of great saves from Lee Nicholls.
In the second half a normal game of error strewn League Two style football broke out, with aerial percentage football in the ascendancy and limbs noticeably tiring. Wycombe were now more akin to choirboys and Rovers, and Darrell Clarke, deserve credit for silencing them as the game changed.
One of the most remarkable moments of the match happened at kick-off, but didn't even get a mention. Whilst strikers and young starlets are endlessly debated in modern football the wonderful simplicity surrounding our longest serving player was summed up when Lee Brown's 200th appearance for the Gas wasn't even noticed. Not only is the ever dependable, and never injured, Mr. Brown our only player to play every minute of our season so far, but this man is a true stalwart, and at barely 25 years old still has years ahead of him. A double century of games in itself is quite a feat considering his debut only came four years ago, on the 6th of August 2011, the televised season opener that marked AFC Wimbledon's first ever game in the Football League.
All hail our own soul sensation, the hardest working man in football, Lee James Brown.
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We really need to win the JPT soon. Or do we really not need the distraction, the extra games, and potential extra injuries?
That was the question I asked fellow Gasheads on the Internet a few months ago, before the season got underway.
After analysing the internet poll I started, whilst most of the 61 votes agreed it was good to win it, with only 3 votes wanting to forget it, the consensus was to treat it seriously but not at the expense of the League and to see it as more meaningful as we potentially get closer to Wembley.
My own slightly gung ho attitude is always that I want to win it. But why I asked myself?
My first reason is because our only proper Cup 'silverware' has been the Watney Cup in 1972-73. And let's be honest, no-one has heard of it, even though we beat top flight Wolverhampton Wanderers and Sheffield United to earn it. We've twice been Division Champions (1952/53 & 1989/90), where you get a cup, and had two play-off wins where you strangely also get a cup. These pieces of silverware are particularly bizarre (the 2006/7 version of which came after only finishing sixth in the League) because we didn't get a cup in 1973/74 when finishing runners-up in a very competitive Third Division.
We're not going to win the F.A. Cup or the Football League Cup, so we might as well go for the JPT with all guns blazing.
My second reason for wanting to win it is because it feels like everyone else has won it apart from us. This isn't actually true but it seems like it, especially when Grimbsy Town, Chesterfield, Wrexham, Mansfield Town and Rotherham United have all won it, but not us.
Can we console ourselves that Swindon Town, Burnley and Millwall have all lost their solitary appearance in the final? Not really. Or that several of the 'bigger' teams regularly seen in the two lower divisions, such as Bradford City, Notts County, Oxford United, Northampton Town, Oldham Athletic, Plymouth Argyle and Gillingham have never even reached a final? Ok, maybe. I surprised myself when I researched this article and found that fans of these proud clubs have never even had the chance to go to Wembley or the Millennium Stadium for such a day trip, whilst fans of Bristol clubs have been there seven times between them.
My third reason for wanting to win it is simply because it is there. Surely all football fans want to win everything that is put in front of them?
I will continue this next week, hopefully after another couple of wins…
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Martin Bull became a Gashead in 1989 and immediately fell in love with Twerton Park, standing near G pillar. In 2006 he wrote, photographed and published the first independent book about the artist Banksy. Having been exiled for much of his past, away games have always been special for him; so much so that with 40 other fans has published a new book about them - www.awaythegas.org.uk
