PREVIEW: Cheltenham Town vs Bristol Rovers (evil post) BRISTOL Rovers defender Lee Brown says he experienced the best and worst moments of his career in a matter of minutes at the Memorial Stadium on Friday night. John Ward's side were closing in on a hard-fought 1-0 victory over relegation rivals Barnet before striker Harry Crawford plundered a last-minute equaliser that looked almost certain to earn Edgar Davids' side a share of the spoils. Rovers striker Ryan Brunt, however, claimed a stoppage-time winner to add to Fabian Broghammer's 77th-minute opener to ensure a crucial last-gasp victory in what was a thrilling crescendo. "I couldn't believe it when Barnet equalised," said Brown, pictured. "It was the worst feeling I've had in a football match for a very long time. I honestly thought that was it; it was going to be a draw. "When Brunty took his chance to score with virtually the last kick of the game it was probably the best feeling I've had in a football match throughout my entire career. "You could also see and hear that the crowd enjoyed it as much as the boys did. I said in the changing room afterwards: Can you imagine what the morale would be like around the place if we riding high at the top of the league? It would be unbelievable; second to none. "Even when we have been bottom of the league the fans have stuck with us. There can't be many other clubs around where that would be the case." Rovers climbed out of the bottom two for the first time in almost two months on the back of Friday night's victory and will attempt to build on a three-match winning sequence when the players return to action at Cheltenham Town tonight (7.45pm). "We came in on Saturday morning still buzzing from what happened on Friday night," Brown said. "It is important that we put all that excitement behind us now and focus solely on the game at Cheltenham. "It was a great feeling for everybody involved on Friday, but it's all about moving on quickly and seeing if we can win another three games in a row. "We have to take things one game at a time, though, and the one at Cheltenham is going to be difficult because there is going to be a bit of spice about it as it is a local derby of sorts. "We go there as underdogs because they are up there flying in the league and we are where we are. We have a lot of respect for them as a team, but we know that we have ability amongst our own squad, too." The trip to Whaddon Road, where Rovers will face a team with realistic ambitions of earning automatic promotion to League One, is the first assignment in a busy four-week period during which Ward's men face five further games. February is going to be another massive month for us," Brown said. "We have six games to come and a good return of points could really push us on into mid-table. "It is important, however, not to forget that we are still firmly entrenched in a battle against relegation. We have responded well to the new manager, but we haven't really achieved anything yet. "If we can maintain our current form over 20 games maybe we will be able to say we have done a good job. "If we finish the season outside the bottom two I'd be happy with that, considering where we have come from."
More laughs from the Cheltenham forum one fan says... "I am not sure there is a single player in their team who could get into ours - except maybe JJOT." ****ing hell they really are up there own asses they really do think there a better club then ours. 10 years from now they will be back where they belong in non-league football "I fear for their rocky defence." WTF we've only let 5 in our last 5 games which is a massive improvement of late. One poster believes the gate will only be around 4000. Well they should of gave us a further 3000 tickets then.
They're a big, direct side, and they've got a few players who can hurt us. Having said that, last time we played them I thought our players had a lot more skill/ technical ability, we had more shots on target and more corners than them. But it was a bit men v boys and they were more of a team. I think with the new signings and the development of our younger players we're a totally different proposition now. The Cheltenham fans really need to show a bit more respect!
Columnist Murry Toms article posted by Seamange takes a balanced view on tonights game,we lost the home match when Chris Zebroski scored,typical! he has since departed and they have picked up Swindons Benson,who we were looking at during the transfer window. Both sides will not want to lose this one,with the Robins coming off of a good win vs Oxford on the weekend following on from a torrid January and Rovers winning three on the bounce,my thoughts are that the midfield will be congested perhaps strangled to death by both teams. Ominously I predict that Benson mam, will probably score as he will wish to prove to his new paymasters that he is worthy of the cash they splashed out on him join them.Or perhaps he will try to hard. Wards Rovers are set up to soak up the pressure and hit on the break, chances are that Ward will opt for a similar formation adopted in Fridays match vs Barnet,the only issue with that is they really invited the opposition team to run at them and perhaps a better strike force would have scored more than 1 the hope is that Benson has not yet formed a partnership with Harrad or any of the midfield to take advantage of this tactic. As for the Gas optimism is in the air which is slightly dangerous,the players seem more confident in there abilities so a goal seems likely. However Cheltenham are unbeaten in last 12 matches played at home and there defence is stingy ranked 2nd in the league at home.As for there attack almost 2 goals a game on average. So 1-1 likely outcome or a killer 2-1 according to the stats. My view is that Cheltenham will be expecting to bag three points from a relegation threatened side and Yates wishing to get one over on his old Manager, so with a good playing surface,excellent tactics by Ward, Rovers may surprise them and come away with all three points probably not going to happen however footballs funny like that. Comon Rovers win 3-2 blow the stats out of the window. COR
A good summation COR - it's going to be our toughest match so far and it'll be close, but I'm confident we can come away with something.
Check it out Cheltenham fans talking absolute bollocks ****ing tinpot town full of chavs http://www.robinsnestforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=12520&sid=9302b62e02d6d30dc56ced4b89b70da6
1 change to the line up..... 451 ----------------Mildenhall----------------- Smith-----Parkes-----McChrystal-----Brown Woodards-Clucas-Norburn-O'Toole-Anyinsah -----------------Brunt-------------------- subs....... Clarkson, Richards, Broghammer, Harrison, Gough, McDonald, Hitchcock
