I saw it, but I didn’t believe it, the way we came back brilliantly after being so bad in the first half.
Were you booing at the half-time whistle? If you were who could blame you. The howls of protest were justified for one of the worst 45 minutes I have ever seen from a Rovers side.
If it was not for a fantastic save from Anssi Jaakkola we would have been three down and it could have been five by the break.
On reflection I could not work out if struggling Southend were playing out of their skin the way they were tearing us apart or that we were so bad we were making them look good. Things just went from bad to worse as someone said there were no lights working in the gents toilets. Not even Graham Coughlan could fix that.
But he must have done something right. Someone suggested there are no tea cups left in the home dressing room, but at least Rovers came out well fired up for the second half. Even Tom Nichols had a shot but as usual it was straight at the keeper.
Thankfully after last week it was our turn to get a penalty and Jonson Clarke-Harris made no mistake. Suddenly it was game on and our boys were up for it. Now Ed Upson and Liam Sercombe were powering forward in a way they didn’t in the first half.
The fight back was brilliant and I was delighted there were so many blue shirts in the box fighting for the ball every time it came in. Just like at Shrewsbury Abu Ogogo lashed home a loose ball before that fantastic goal from Upson and it was good to see young Alfie Kilgour get his second goal in a week to round off an incredible turn around.
It reminded me of that famous game at Eastville in 1960 when Rovers came back from 4-0 down at half-time against a Leeds United side including Jack Charlton to draw 4-4 in front of 19,000 fans. Ironically we followed that match with a 1-1 draw against Ipswich. I would take that now but who knows which team is going to turn up this Saturday?
Anyone sent to watch Rovers from Ipswich will be giving a long mixed report. Totally disorganised in the first half and terrible at the back but showing a fantastic fighting spirit and determination after the break.
Generally the football we are playing is not pretty but we have scored eight goals in the last two league games, are fifth in the table and still in two cup competitions. It’s a funny old game.
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