Bristol R
Howie
Smith
Thomson
Foran
Challis
Hogg
Hillier
Plummer
Astafjevs
Ellington
Ommel

Be afraid, be very very afraid. The spectre that is the Nationwide Conference looms large and we are out of control and heading for the abyss. I can't see where the next goal is coming from let alone a win or even a point, we are sliding towards the edge and something, what I'm not sure, has to be done. Can't see us getting anything at Rochdale (even with Hollins in charge). Kidderminster at home, tricky. And Plymouth at home, no chance. Bottom by mid February ? Maybe there is some excitement left in the season. A fight against relegation!! Forget about the play-offs, Rushden and Diamonds Easter Monday is going to be the relegation dog fight we all dread. But to be fair we were not beaten by Bristol Rovers, a very poor side but were out done by an inconsistent homer of a referee.

Recent results have been disappointing, performances not a great deal better and with the pre match news that the take over was off, there was little expectation that anything would improve. With the squad quite literally down to the bare bones, moral and confidence at a low point and with little opportunity to either freshen things up or change things around, the same 11 started the game as saturday. The players to their credit warmly and to a man acknowledged the travelling 300 to 400 prior to the game. What do they know that we don't, when they didn't even bother waiting until the final whistle, Captain Cusack again going further up in my estimation when he cajoled the reluctant amongst them to come right across the pitch to stand in line applauding us.

We started the game brightly, passing intelligently, defending resolutely and for 40 minutes not giving them anything even the much vaunted, although why escaped most of us, Nathan 'Duke' Ellington, who was subdued by a hardworking defence that had him quite literally in their pockets. The Gas' only real opportunity was a corner that was cleared off the line by the relatively impressive Coates I think.

A couple of excellent chances for us, most particularly a fine effort from Williams which for all the world looked in from where we were. Brodie was busy, Evans up and down the right and Cusack probing and controlled in the centre. But the pretty patterns we wove until the final third led to nothing substantial, the lack of any sort of goalscorer clearly causing us a problem. Easy for any defence to hold their line, let us have the ball, knowing that we have no cutting edge to slice them apart. Gone are the days when Roberts and Appleby could maurade down the flanks, with Savarese all poise and Latin spirit up amongst them. Or have I got that all wrong ?

Williams is not fit, appears disinterested and half hearted most of the time. Watkin is Watkin and will never be everybody's terrace hero and is not the prolific goalscorer we are crying out for. Surely there must someone, anyone, in the reserves / youth side that deserves a chance. And when if ? the transfer embargo is lifted there must be someone in either the League of Wales / Conference or a journeyman plying his trade in a reserve side somewhere (Kevin Nugent ?) that would fancy helping us out of our current predicament.

As with a number of games I've been to this season we were outdone by a five minute period when two extremely dubious referring decisions effectively cost us the game. It was doubtful that we would score one, never mind two to draw or three to win then. The first goal a penalty, a foul on Ellington I think, was firstly not a foul, we seem to get them given against us whilst similar, against Brodie and Watkin last night, go unpunished. Ellington had handled the ball earlier in the move, how could the referee and his assistant miss that. Cusack was then punished for a combination of a foul and backchat to the ref, the free kick was taken quickly we were half asleep and we're two down. The chant of 'Two Nil to the Referee' was extremely apt.

Second half started no better, at two nil up Ellington awoke from his slumber and all of a sudden was as bright as a button, trying a 25 yard speculative shot that spun off the post and in. Ellington is the sort of player that when the chips are down and the going tough, he will disappear, but when you are up in the game with the opposition chasing a goal, he thinks he's a genius !!!! And on another day, his effort would have hit the corner flag or indeed the N on the Blackthorn advertisement above Rogers' goal. That's our luck at the moment I suppose.

At three down we managed to get a good goal from Watkin and if his chance had not been blocked on the line it would most certainly have been game on with the Rovers defence not at all good, and looking increasingly fragile. Chasing the game with the only real creative option on the bench being the frustratingly ineffective Casey, a double substitution Addison choose to bring off Coates and Williams for Lacey and Phillips, pushing Cusack up front. Cue our most effective period of the game several very good chances but this was last chance saloon football, pump it forward, scrap for anything, everything and nothing too pretty. Not a long term tactic for the remaining three or four months of the season. Roger kept the score relatively respectable with some very very good saves late on but I don't recall their fourth goal, by that time it was too much to take and I'd had enough.

We are in the mire, right in the middle of a fight to the death !!!! Its no good looking over our shoulders, there is no-one to look at. I kid you not, if we are not very careful and do not raise the effort there are only dark days ahead. Best shout of the night from the 'bloke behind me' was 'Referee ! Don't be so petty !'. But by that time most of us didn't have the energy or enthusiasm to laugh !!!!

Rovers handed out a 4-1 drubbing to old rivals Swansea City at the Mem on Tuesday night with some sublime moments of attacking flair - but not before the Jacks had enjoyed much the brighter start in a largely disappointing first half for Rovers.

Fans of the crisis stricken Swans headed over the Bridge in the afternoon no doubt downcast at the news of the collapse of the deal which looked like finally ridding their club of th***ing cr**k Tony Petty. Hopefully all is not lost for our old foes from south west Wales and something will be sorted to enable the club to get up off the floor and see supporters' money heading for the pockets of the players and club staff rather than their conman owner. No football club should have to go through what that bar steward is doing to the Swans.

Those loyal Jacks would have been cheered to see their side making much the better start with most of the territorial advantage even if the finishing touch was often lacking. When they did threaten the Rovers goal they were either a whisker away - John Williams hit a scorching drive just over the top of Scott Howie's crossbar - or done no favours by the referee. To be honest, I thought that Steve Watkin was fouled when he went down near the byline though there were plenty who disagreed with me. A penalty then could have changed the course of the match and there were other occasions when the ref seemed to give the visitors very little change. Still, nice to get a homer at the Mem for once, we seem to get them all the time when we're away...

Rovers had produced not much more than an Andy Thomson free kick cleared from near the line when Nathan Ellington broke into the box and went down to give us a penalty. Swansea's players had plenty to say about it to the referee and to be honest I wasn't entirely sure myself when I saw it again but there you go, those are the breaks. Nathan stepped up to take the kick himself, giving many Gasheads visions of the two he missed for us last season - we needn't have worried. The Duke demonstrated his growing talent and confidence by ambling up to the ball, waiting for the 'keeper to go the wrong way and then rolled the ball into the opposite corner. Class, and cheeky as anything.

A few of us were pleasantly surprised to find ourselves 1-0 up just before half time when we were thinking that going in all square was a bonus. We were even more surprised then when we added number two before the break, Sergio Ommel taking one touch to control a centre before dispatching it into the back of the Tent End net in some style. The big Dutchman had received a little bit of criticism at the weekend for a somewhat lacklustre display and a glaring miss but tonight he was back on form, playing his link up role with Nathan to perfection and demonstrating once again that he's no mean finisher. 2-0 at half time was more than we deserved but still more than welcome.

Half time entertainment was provided by the ejection of Cyril the Swan from the ground and the fun continued in the early stages of the second half when Duke put us 3-0 ahead with a goal he will find hard to better all season, though he'll be trying no doubt. As soon as he hit the shot those in position to see where it was going were jumping up and down - it was that good we all knew it was flying in. In fact the ball swerved both ways before going just inside the post to beat the admirable Roger Freestone all ends up. The Swansea legend deserves a mention at this point because I thought he was absolutely outstanding, despite being beaten four times. He pulled off three unbelievable saves in the second half, getting a hand to Ellington's thundering drive to tip it over the bar after Nathan had pulled off another piece of trickery in the box, pushing another Ellington effort round the post when he had looked beaten and then reaching Lewis Hogg's well placed header to deny the youngster a certain goal. Roger Fr eestone is the kind of footballer you never hear about - hard working, loyal to a fault and with a sense of humour to match. The way he handled the "Freestone what's the score?" chants was fantastic and the applause at the end of the game included a fair bit aimed at him, a rare compliment for a visiting goalie at the Blackthorn End. His loyalty to Swansea City through everything they've gone through, especially recently, is worthy of wider recognition than he'll ever get and makes Petty's failure to pay this loyal servant even more despicable.

Swansea pulled a goal back with a great finish from Steve Watkin and should have had another when Watkin's header was saved at point blank range by Scott Howie. The Rovers defence still doesn't look quite secure enough to ever be comfortable to watch though at least the return of Andy Thomson in place of the unbothered Scott Jones was an improvement. Any lingering worries that the visitors could force their way back into the game were dispelled when Dwayne Plummer, who was having his best game in weeks, won the ball well and gave it to Vitas Astafjevs. The returning Latvian produced the kind of sublime skill we so badly miss when he's missing from the line up to enable him to place a perfect cross onto the head of the Duke who had managed to escape the attentions of the entire Swans defence. His header was too good for even Freestone and he had his third hat-trick in a month and a stunning 16th goal in just 12 games. No wonder the Blackthorn End were pointing at the directors box and singing "sell the Duke an d you will die"...

When Rovers are good, we can be something rather special but when we're bad... well we're absolutely awful as we saw on Saturday. We never know which Rovers are going to turn up from game to game but hey, at least it's better than knowing we were going to be rubbish every week as we did a couple of months ago. 14th place and rising...

Nathan Ellington shone under Bristol Rovers' new floodlights with a match-winning hat-trick in the 4-1 win against Swansea.

The highly-rated striker opened the scoring with a 42nd-minute penalty after he had been fouled by Kristian O'Leary and Sergio Ommel lashed home a second two minutes later.

Ellington blasted a brilliant third from 30 yards after 54 minutes and completed the scoring with an 86th-minute header after Steve Watkin had fired Swansea's consolation after 61 minutes.

Charlton are reported to be targeting Ellington and on this form his Rovers days could be numbered. Two brilliant Roger Freestone saves in the second half denied him further goals.