All Filler, No Killer: Bristol Rovers 1-1 Imps

November 10, 2024 Gary Bristol Rovers, League One, Lincoln City, Matches, Reports 0

I know there’s a rhetoric that we came out better in the second half, but I thought it was pretty much more of the same for the first 15 minutes or so. The Gasheads had been really quiet in the stands up until the goal, but the thought of a win spurred them into life, and they were loud in those first 15 minutes. There was one shot each, and we dominated possession, but if you asked me to tell you about something that happened after the break but before the hour mark, I couldn’t. It felt like it was petering out until Jack Moylan came on.

Jumping on the Moylan bandwagon is easy, and while I didn’t do so before the game, it’s hard not to now. We needed some thrust from midfield, a player who wouldn’t just look to pass in the triangles or who wouldn’t always be patient, but one who would grab the game by the scruff of the neck, eyeball it and scream ‘Faugh a Ballagh’ as loud as he could. That’s what Moylan does. He’s Anthony Scully for a new generation, a player who can turn a game with a moment of self-centred brilliance. Of course, if he did it in every game, he’d start every week and have a big price tag on his head, but recently, he has been effective. You have to wonder if, maybe, he’s going to start at St James’ Park next week.

It wasn’t him alone that turned the game. Reeco’s output in the second period seemed to get better as well. The former Portsmouth man was getting some joy down the left in the first, but at times his delivery let him down, but as the game wore on, I felt like we began to see the old Reeco. That’s massive, by the way, because on his day, he’s as good on the flank as any player at the club.

The goal starts with Moylan, playing Reeco in. He’s suddenly got options: Roughan is on the outside, and Moylan is through the middle. He feeds Moylan and then desperately wants the ball back, but Our Jack only has one thing on his mind – to replicate his Chesham goal, which he did with aplomb. The Scully comparisons will be made, the cutting in from the left and finishing with the right, but comparison is the thief of joy, and we should enjoy Jack for what he is, not who he reminds us of.

From that moment on, there was one team going to win the game, if anyone did. They didn’t, obviously, but The Gas wanted the point and we went for all three. In the first hour of the game, we had four shots, one on target, with an xG of 0.52, and they had five shots, one on target, with an xG of 0.19. In those final 37 minutes (including injury time), we had eight shots, two on target, and they had two without hitting Wickens at all. We didn’t swarm all over them, but we introduced the fresh legs of Cadamarteri and Draper and went for the win.

It didn’t come; the best of those chances perhaps came from Reeco’s cross, which Cadamarteri hit against a defender, but we certainly got a lot of joy down our attacking left. By the end of the game, I felt the Reeco and Roughan dynamic had begun to look like it had last season, and that’s huge news for us in every way. I still think Roughan is one of our best players, he barely put a foot wrong yesterday and he’s a big part of our attacking plan as well as our defensive plan. You won’t see many centre-backs overlapping the left wing-back on 79 minutes, eager to smash a cross into the box. I know Montsma is a bit of a hero with supporters, and rightly so, but when do we see him, or Jacko, getting up there? That’s not to their detriment, it is outlining what a terrific engine Roughan has, and what a huge asset he is to us right now.

The goal didn’t come, but at the end of the game, as Matty Taylor fist-pumped a 1-1 draw at home with Lincoln City, you got a sense of what it meant to them. This is a good point for both clubs – for us, it’s one of those tricky ties you always say ‘we’ll take a point there’ and come away happy. For them, they’ve held one of League One’s promotion contenders 1-1, survived a late onslaught and given themselves a platform to build upon. They’ll take it, we’ll take it, and we all move on.

Did we play badly? No. Did we play well? In patches, yes, but overall, no. However, we got a point at Bristol Rovers, something in my youth we never got – I remember losing 3-0 there in 1998 (Cureton and Hayles for them, some strike partnership that), and losing 2-0 in 2002 (Giuliano Grazioli, some player, him). I recall being beaten in the playoffs there (Richard Walker, decent striker, him), and again in the National League (Nathan Blissett…). We never seemed to get a win at Bristol Rovers; a 0-0 draw was the best we could hope for.

Well, since coming back into the Football League, we’ve drawn two and won two. That’s a real indication of the strides we’ve been making, and as their manager fist-pumped the crowd, delighted with a 1-1 draw in which the visitors had 50% more shots, three times as many on target and three times as much xG as the Gas, I did feel mildly happy.

Right, it’s time to go and listen to some album fillers because, like Jubilee and Bristol Rovers away, some might just be a tad underrated.

Up the Imps.

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