Post by a more piratey game on Apr 19, 2016 22:54:07 GMT
Stevenage is the sort of place that, when I was a kid, seemed to me should be playing against Cadbury Heath or Bristol St George or something. But now they are full-time, Division 4, and playing proper teams like Rovers. Well done them, I think you’ve got to say, so maybe the difference between teams at the lower layers is not as big as I sometimes tend to think.
I’d not been there before, but it was a sunny evening drive through some Hertfordshire country lanes, and a lot prettier than I expected it to be too.
I was passing round the edge of what looked like a new town, and suddenly saw the Old Faithfull Friend, or something like that, which I knew was the pub some of my Rovers mates had headed for. I dithered and went round the roundabout twice, when I spotted a group of about 15 by the underpass in the middle of the roundabout. Like a scene out of a hooly film, which seemed completely incongruous in the sunny suburban setting.
But I skipped the pub and parked up in the plentiful free parking opposite the ground. All very civilised and easy, although the queue at the Burger King told me there was a football match on, and there seemed to be many more people than I was expecting milling around.
Inside the ground was a nice little non-league type ground. A bit like many of the ones which we visited last season, with the one ‘big stand’ given over to the Gas. I got the usual over-priced pie and Bovril, and headed for my seat which turned out to be in the back row.
I’m usually one to sit in the quieter sections, but I thought with a sell-out I might do better to stick where I was even if it was likely to be a bit louder than usual. Then Chewbacca came and stood next to me and I knew that, in Spinal Tap terms, it was going to be ‘turned up to 11’. It’ll make a change, I thought.
Rovers came out with Gos the only surprise starter (though maybe Parkes wasn’t a clear-cut choice either). Why that happened for Gos, after he hadn’t featured for a while, I still don’t know, but he had a decent first half of hard work if little dribbling. Mildy’s shorts looked quite long but snug, but I didn’t notice anything else I hadn’t seen before until I mistook Lockyer for Parkes and was very surprised by Parkes’ turn of pace. When I realised that it was Locks I was still a bit surprised – that boy can shift for a centre mid.
DC went for the unseasonal Christmas Tree 3-5-2, and for the first half an hour it didn’t seem to work at all. We had 5 strung across the middle, but I don’t think any of them touched the ball at all.
Stevenage were winning everything at the back, and their midfield were stroking it around while Rovers kept their shape and snuffed out anything remotely dangerous. It was quite intriguing, but Stevenage seemed to lack quality up-front while we lacked it in the middle.
After half an hour Rovers suddenly started to play, and for the 8-10 minutes that it lasted it was very good to watch. There were a couple of half-chances, and Rovers’ danders were coming up until a Stevenage player hit the floor and took some time to have treatment. I thought their game management was excellent throughout, including ‘using up time’ in the second half, and the break was enough to cool Rovers head of steam.
We had a free-kick just outside the box which went about a foot over the bar – close but no cigar – and we had a shot dragged wide of the post, but that was about the sum of it for the half.
So it was honour even at half-time, and everyone around me was clear that Rovers would have to step it up in the second half if we were to get the 3 points required. Stevenage only needed 1 to guarantee League 2 survival, but to be fair to them they had come out to play a game of football and Rovers weren’t finding it easy keeping up with them.
Second half they kept us waiting for a minute or two and then it started with Bodin on for Leds, and I think we changed to 4-4-2, but otherwise it continued rather as it had left off.
Their fans had a drum, which Rovers fans had already pointed out we don’t need, and it seemed to me to have an odd sort of beat that reminded me of the Glitter Band singles. That’s not a good thing.
Their fans weren’t very numerous, but the group that were singing created a respectable amount of noise and atmosphere, and it was turning into a decent night’s football. My friend told me that Stevenage create cup-cakes for each match, with the names of both teams on them, and speculated that some old Woodbine-toting Tote Enders might be spinning in their graves if they knew, but it seemed to me that they are making a decent fist of being a League club thus far.
The Gas mood was turning from up-beat to increasingly tense though, especially as the teams tired, spaces started to open up, and both teams had some opportunities.
The first of our best ones fell to Gaffers, who had run around all night but, a bit like Matty Harrold used to, got little change and absolutely nothing from the ref, but he seemed to tense up and scuffed it. Ellis would have had a cooler head, I thought. The second fell to Bodin, who hit an excellent shot which an even better save put just round the post.
Mildy rushed out to collect one of their through balls and got clattered quite badly for his troubles. He was down for a few minutes, but got up to continue. They had other good chances, but their shots or final balls let them down, even after their left winger had skinned the defender (J Clarke?) twice, so that Mildy didn’t have too much to do in the end.
Harrison came on for Gaffers, and immediately won a good header, and then Easter came on for Gos, which I thought would be the DC master stroke as he’d have the touch and wisdom to finally put a foot on the ball and create the incisive pass.
It was slow to happen though. Lines started to feature much more in the last 15 minutes or so, but often his and others’ balls were too floaty and curly to trouble their excellent centre backs (particularly the number 2 Wilkinson, who didn’t seem to lose anything all night).
The last 10 minutes were Rovers chucking the kitchen sink in, and they really couldn’t be faulted for effort, but the goal just didn’t open up and we all felt a bit deflated when the final whistle went.
I listened to the local radio as I drove away. The Stevenage fans said it had been a very entertaining 0-0, and that with a bit more quality up-front they could have won it. Their manager said that he was delighted with his team’s effort and desire to take the game to Rovers, who are a quality team with a ‘conveyor belt of quality centre forwards to come on from the bench’, as well as to get the one point that they needed. He was particularly pleased with the defenders and a couple of the midfielders who ‘controlled the game’ and ‘did a good job of dealing with Chris Lines, who is a quality midfielder’. That all seemed fair enough to me.
My friend said that we haven’t dominated teams all season, but worn them down and waited until the last quarter of the match for our winning goals, so that it was pretty unreasonable to expect us to do any different tonight. Well we didn’t do any different tonight, but we couldn’t quite squeeze the one vital goal. Small margins, indeed.