My Gran was called Irene and she was working in the tea stall at Eastville in the 1950's. She always said they were singing her song ! I'd never heard this story before.
A look at todays opponents Two of the form sides of League Two clash at the Mem this weekend as the Pirates look to repel the Pilgrims. This weekend's visitors, Plymouth Argyle, top the table for the last six games played with 4 wins, 1 draw and just 1 defeat. Last weekend the Devon side thrashed Morecambe 5-0 at Home Park. The Pilgrims boss John Sheridan said after the game, "First and foremost it was good to get back to winning ways at home. I thought we were outstanding." Argyle scored four against Fleetwood last weekend. Durrell Berry began the rout in the fifth minute with his first Football League goal after Shrimps keeper Barry Roche failed to hold Matt Parson's fierce drive. Skipper Conor Hourihane won the ball in midfield to set up the first of two goals for former Shrimper Lewis Alessandra 5 minutes before half time. A 77th minute Curtis Nelson header from a corner put Argyle 3-0 up in the 77th minute and substitute Andres Gurrieri’s strong run the length of the field counter culminated in the home team’s fourth. Alessandra scored a second, sweeping home from 18 yards in stoppage time to make it 5-0 and take his season's tally to 12 goals. Sheridan enthused, "(Jack) Redshaw had a chance just before we scored and it just broke for us. Other than that half chance I think we have totally dominated the game. "I just think our fitness levels and the tempo of our game wins it. Again it's about the team and I don't normally pick out individuals but I thought Lewis was top drawer. To keep a clean sheet and score five goals is very pleasing. "I think the fans are quite happy with where we are at the moment. Like I have said many times before they are good supporters and they get right behind the team. Before they have had hard times so it's good to give them a little bit of hope. "Let's hope we can get in a position where we can give ourselves a good chance. We have just got to keep winning games, the next game is the most important game and we want to try and get on a run. "I will keep my feet firmly on the ground because I know what is around the corner in football but we have got a little bit of momentum going at the moment and we want to keep that going." The result followed Sheridan’s nomination for Sky Bet League Manager of the Month for February. Argyle played five games in the month, starting with a 1-1 draw at home to Mansfield. The sole loss in February was a 0-4 reverse at home to York City, but three away victories - at Northampton, Dagenham and Fleetwood - caught the eye of the Sky Bet judging panel. Like Rovers, Argyle were founder members of the Third Division in 1920-21 season and they finished one spot below Rovers at the end of that season in 11th place. The first ever League meeting between the clubs took place on 23rd April 1921 when goals by Ellis Crompton and Billy Palmer secured a 2-0 victory in front of a 14,000 Eastville crowd. The return match saw Plymouth win 2-1 a week later, Jimmy Logan notching a double for the Pilgrims and Ellis Crompton notching Rovers single goal. In more recent times Rovers bagged five goals in a memorable FA Cup Third Round tie at Twerton Park on 5th January 1992. A rare Jockey Alexander goal was accompanied by four by Carl Saunders. The “There’s only one Billy Ocean” theme was heard loud and clear in Bath that afternoon. Looking back over the history of games in Bristol there have been some real high scoring encounters. The Boxing Day fixture of 1973 kept a 22,353 crowd on their toes as goals by Stuart Taylor, Alan Warboys (2) and Bruce Bannister swept a rampant Rovers to a 4-2 win. Going back even further to 14th October 1961 a Bobby Jones double, Geoff Bradford and Peter Hooper goals made the score 4-3 to Rovers. Interestingly John Brown and Johnny Williams (both later to play for Rovers) scored for Plymouth along with one by Ken Maloy. This provided some sort of revenge for Argyle’s 5-2 win just 11 months prior. It’s also worth remembering that “Goodnight Irene” was first heard on 4 November 1950 in a game between Rovers and Argyle. Rovers came back from being 1-0 down at half time to score 3 goals. The Rovers fans changed the words of the current hit by the Weavers to ‘Goodnight Argyle” Last season Rovers won this fixture 2-1 on New Year’s Day. Stunning first half goals from Joe Anyinsah and Matt Lund gave Rovers victory. The visitors pulled a goal back in the second half but, apart from another effort that hit the post, they didn’t really give Steve Mildenhall too many problems on his Rovers debut. John-Joe O’Toole and Tom Hitchcock, also made their debuts in an excellent team performance. Argyle will be aiming for a fourth consecutive away win on Saturday, and they will not be short of support, with the away allocation sold out.
Great team performance and for me, this was my performance of the season to date. We dominated in large spells of the game and attacked with purpose. We didnt run out of ideas in the final 3rd like we have done in the past. We defended well with Lockyer and Clarke in front of the defence and didnt allow Plymouth to play and broke up their attacks easily. I couldnt believe it when they scored. We were dominating them and knocking at the door to go 2-0 up but then they got a goal out of no where. I was told that the ball went out of play before they scored so if correct, conceding a goal on half time is bad enough but to concede a goal at that time when it may turn out it shouldnt have counted, could have dented our confidence and lost the game. However we didnt sit back and went for the 3 points and thankfully we broke through and got the winner. At the end when Plymouth had to go for it they did have a chance which Mildenhall for me made a fantastic save to secure the win. Great game and a fully deserved 3 points. On another note, looks like the tinpots strawberry town will be joining us in league 2 next season if our late play off push fails which I think it will. We cant expect to get into the play offs when we have the worse away record in the league.
Ward on our win today.... “We tried extremely hard to win the game and went on the front foot as often as we could. We were up against the best team in the league at the moment, so we had to be in good form ourselves, and we were. We played some good football, and I have to be really, really pleased with that. We were level at half time, so we had 45 minutes to win the game, and we pressed very strongly in the second half and did that. I am aware of where we are, and in some ways there is disappointment that we were not on the first page of the table. But we are getting better and improving, and with that comes some confidence. There is a real fitness amongst the team, and if you are physically fit, you are mentally fit as well. They are good workers on the training ground, and will cope with another game on Tuesday. We have got a stronger squad now – when you look at the bench I can bring an international on in Seanan Clucas. Matt Harrold came on and made a big difference, so there is a strength and a confidence about the group now. Ollie Clarke and Tom Lockyer in midfield are two of my youngest boys and they have both been exceptionally strong. There is a huge weight on their shoulders, but they are both men and not young boys, and they are extremely important to us. Kaid Mohamed works really hard and we have put him on the right hand side, which he seems to be more comfortable with. We encourage him to move the team up the pitch and he got a lovely reward today. He is a difficult player to stop when he is going forward. We were unbeaten in the previous five, and Chris Beardsley has played in the previous five, so it would have been wrong of me to put him on the bench. Chris will see he has competition, but he tries hard every day, every game and every week.” http://www.bristolrovers.co.uk/news/article/ward-on-plymouth-win-2014-1406517.aspx
I could see the equaliser coming as soon as they started coming forward, as we had just come so close on 3 or 4 occasions in a short spell at the other end. Football is often like that.
[video=youtube;139fTpLEJxY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=139fTpLEJxY&list=UU7dLKUWi0j2nvokTme6U4TQ[/video]
