The Rovers started their new Division One campaign on a very wet Sunday morning, which only went ahead due to the excellent work of the ground staff at Meridian who really have made the pitches comparable to Premier League Standards since the turn of the year.
After the fair play handshake the whistle blew and the game was well and truly under way 'the physical battle commenced'. The first 15 minutes or so were very edgy with both teams finding it difficult to get a grip on the game, but the Rovers made a slight tactical change and started to take bit of control. The next 10 minutes saw the rovers create a few chances down the right handside with Dave Keen and James Kalel linking up well. This linking work then lead to the breakthrough, with a chip from James at right back being picked up by Russel Townsend and smashed into the goal on the half volley from about 35 yards (the keeper was clearly beaten as soon as the ball left his boot).
The remainder of the half saw a lot of defensive work by the Rovers, which was marshalled superbly by the two super centre halfs Jay Mitchell and Dave Classen who would have been up for MOM if not for the heroics of the Cat between the sticks Dean Mitchell. Definitely kept the rovers in the game and when the whistle went for half time, the boys were simply in awe of the magician in goal.
Second half started after a simple 'work your ass off team talk' from Richie and immediately this attitude was needed as the Reds were pushing hard for an equaliser, with attack after attack being defended like Romans.
On 62 mins Jovan Moody was looking very tired after so much battling on the wing and with the heavy pitch taking it's toll, the first change was set in motion and the first appearance for Stephen O'Donell was going to be a big test. He certainly passed this test with hard closing from the minute he was brought into the action and certainly made a difference with the fresh legs.
The pressure was now building more and more with a lot of corners now being won by JAM causing the rovers more problems, but good marking kept the reds out. However the reds did nearly break the defence on 78 minutes when Jay Mitchell won the header off the JAM forward to save a simple header into goal, but in doing this nearly put the ball in his own net. Luckily it bounced back off the bar and was cleared away from danger by Dario 'Ashley Cole' Bessa.
On 80 minutes Alex Elliott was subbed for Scott Wilson again for fresh legs, as the midfielder had really run himself into the ground during the game and had taken quite a few hard knocks during the midfield battle with the very strong JAM players.
The game was very much the same in the final minutes with a lot of attacking from the reds, with the odd counter attack by the rovers causing problems. The final whistle finally came and the rovers were victorious and were feeling very lucky to have got through without conceding. A very good 3 points taken for the rovers, from a game that was probably more deserving of a draw, but the difference in the game was the composure in front of goal which was lacking from JAM.
Let's look forward to the London FA Cup next week boys and keep up the hard work!!!
