After last weekend's Suffolk Cup exit, Rovers were looking to get back to winning ways when they faced Black Boy FC at Grafton Close, in the League 2 Cup.
The Whites chances were not helped though when they were stripped down to the very bare bones of their squad with only 11 of the 30 or so members of the squad, turning up for the match. Of the 11 both Andrew Clarke and Alistair Clark were forced to play despite both carrying injuries. Boss, Paul Jeavons made a rare apperance in midfield.
With no referee turning up for the game, it was decided that the 2 sides would take turns providing a referee for the fixture, both doing a half each.
With a strong wind blowing across the pitch, the match began with Rovers expecting a tough afternoon against opponents who always put up tough resistance. It soon became apparent the extent of Ally Clark's injury as the midfielder was unable to run and just had to sit in the middle of the park, doing whatever he could. Despite his discomfort though, Clark decided to carry on so not to reduce the side to 10 men.
The first half was very much a case of both sides struggling to cope with the strong wind and despite the odd half chance for the 2 teams, both goalkeepers found themselves mainly spectators for the first 45 minutes.
Rovers were delighted to get to the break with the scores level and perhaps for the first time in the match they began to believe that maybe they could even get something from the match.
The 2nd half was a very different affair to the first as both side started to carve out more chances for themselves, especially the Whites, who began to get behind the Black Boy defense on a couple of occasions only to squander the chance or find James Driver in the home goal too good.
The deadlock was finally broken on the hour mark when a purposeful break from deep in their own half, saw Rovers string a couple of great passes together, resulting in Andrew Clarke slipping the ball through for Centre Half, Geoff Green to curl the ball round the keeper to put the visitors ahead in fine style.
The goal gave the Whites a huge lift and after going ahead they continued to carve out chances to extend their lead.
Despite their pressure, the home side levelled up the match with 15 minutes remaining when an inswinging corner caught Rovers offguard and curled its way into the net.
Both sides continued to press after the goal as they both went looking for a winner before the 90 minutes was up. The match fizzled out into extra time though as niether side were able to convert the late chances they created.
Again Rovers were delighted to have done as well as they had and despite being dead on their feet they knew that the game was very much still in the balance.
10 minutes into the first period of extra time, Rovers again took the lead when Lyndian O'Brien floated over a deep corner to the far post for Geoff Green to head home for his and Rovers 2nd of the game.
The goal seemed to kill off the home side's spirit and early in the second period of extra time Ben Cole capped a fine individual performance to fire the visitors into a 2 goal lead from close range. Ally Clark decided that he could go on no longer at this point and the Whites had to see out the last 10 minutes of the game with just the 10 men.
The numerical disadvantage had no ill effect on Rovers as with 5 minutes remaining, Ben Cole fired home again from close range to secure the Whites a place in the next round of the competition.
Paul Jeavons was over the moon with the performance especially taking the situation into account and heaped special praise on the whole squad but in particular both Andrew Clarke and Ally Clark for the part they played in the victory.
Special mention should also go to both sides who, despite the absense of an appointed referee, played the game in great spirit.
Rovers now face a tricky away fixture against Barons FC in the next round in early December.
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