By Poolie Kev
February 7 2006

Back to the Good Old Days? Poolie Kev's day out at Rotherham was enlivened by some distinctly retro songs and chants that only highlighted the change in the feelings of the fans. There are some tough games coming up though.... Thus far this season we’ve managed to draw with the opposition on ten occasions but I would think that Saturday was the one that brought the most smiles amongst a surprisingly large Poolie away following. Estimates have been slow in coming but I would guess at a conservative 500 noisy, colourful and supportive fans and maybe the team responded, maybe it was primed to give the competent, competitive, committed display it did. The hunger seems to be back.

As previously reported, if I was of such a mind I could probably walk to Rotherham from my house. No need of course because if the car got stolen as so many do around here, I could just get the 19 bus and walk to the ground. An inn had been appointed and even setting off at 11.40, we were still Poolies number seven and eight and the premises, such as they were, started to fill up from about 1.30. The general atmosphere was fatalistic, something it had lost to anger in the preceding weeks but the injuries, suspensions and ‘not yet readies’ were discussed at length and the likely team was a hot topic.

In the event, eyebrows were raised but not too far, when the midfield became the defence and the youth team became the midfield with the hero’s of Cardiff leading the line.

What a great first half the lads produced, busy, probing, incisive and yet still the recent dearth of clear-cut opportunities was maintained. The fans were in fiesta mode with some antiquated songs, even one featuring Billy Ayre, were revealed and some of the old warmth returned. Ben Clark was greeted with the theme from Rocky during the warm up.

No score then at half time but in the queue for the loo, for the record a single portacabin with eight urinals, the sense of satisfaction (and desperation) was palpable and we looked forward to more of the same in the forthcoming forty-five.

Clearly the message in the Rotherham dressing shack (yes it IS that bad) had been that they couldn’t afford to maintain the gap at four points and this was a must win homer for the Millers. They duly set about us with grit and determination but the central towers of Tinks and Clark battled gamely, ably assisted by Jon Daly of all people, and kept the red hordes at bay. It has to be said we were on the back foot for a lot of the second half, offering little up front with tiny David Foley getting bundled off the ball like a playful kitten in with the lions every time he tried to make a yard.

So ultimate relief at the final whistle, which is odd really as Swindon had won again and dropped us into third bottom. There are signs that the shackles are released and it was always my pet theory that with the bandying about of FIFA Pro Licences and such, were the lads over coached?? Were we asking things of them that might be asked at substantially higher level? After all, one would think that the easiest model to exploit would be the text-book one because you know what the opposition is trying to achieve without even seeing them, a bit like the four-move check mate. Once you’ve spotted it coming you know exactly what to do.

I remain cautiously optimistic. We’ve got a couple of absolute steamers coming up, Chesterfield , unbeaten in 15 albeit 12 are draws, at home, and then Tranmere, unbeaten in 10 if you include the LDV of which, remarkably, 6 have been 0-0 draws.

Personally I can’t see more than two points coming out of these games but I would happily eat a huge slice of vegetarian humble pie if we do better. Here’s hoping!!