BETWEEN 6,000 and 7,000 fans will be travelling to London tomorrow (kick-off 2pm) to see Paul Trollope's side take on struggling Premiership side Fulham, one of his former clubs, in the third round of the FA Cup. Rovers will not be overawed by the occasion against a side who have won only twice in the league and have just appointed much travelled Roy Hodgson as their new manager.
The New Year was ushered in with a 1-0 away win over Southend, with Andy Williams scoring for Rovers as the side put in an impressive performance.
Rovers will also be buoyed by an impressively convincing 3-0 win over high-riding Carlisle United at the Memorial Stadium on Saturday after the Boxing Day failure to beat a Luton Town side who finished the game with eight men.
There was a time when Rovers could never manage a goal from a corner. Now thanks to skipper Stuart Campbell's devastating deliveries they do it regularly and the opening two goals came this way. Midfielder Chris Lines, in for the suspended Craig Disney, looked to have got his header dead right but striker Andy Williams claimed the final touch after eight minutes. Six minutes later David Pipe got the first header, Lines the next touch but central defender Craig Hinton, who had replaced the suspended Danny Coles, sneaked in for the goal. Rovers' third was a classic just before the hour. A throw-in down the left by Joe Jacobson found Rickie Lambert whose quick pass enabled Williams to turn and smash the ball high into the top right-hand corner.
Rovers ended up giving two more debuts before the final whistle to striker Josh Klein-Davies, recalled from his short loan spell with Yate Town, and midfield flanker Charlie Reece.
A delighted Trollope said: "That's a level we've produced on quite a few occasions but the difference was we put the chances away. It's not a major upturn in form. It's the fact that at both ends of the pitch we did better than we have been."
Carlisle boss John Ward, once of Rovers, who got a very warm reception, said: "To be honest I didn't know we could play that poorly. I've found out a lot about this team today and I'm somewhat embarrassed by it."
In a remarkable game against Luton, Rovers went ahead with a Lambert penalty after 15 minutes after Williams had been hauled back by skipper Chris Coyne who received a red card. Steve Robinson picked up two yellows in three minutes and was dismissed five minutes before the break.
Four minutes into the second half David Bell's touchline free-kick was deflected in by David Edwards and amazingly Town were level. The rest of the half was a predictable siege on the Luton goal but post, bar and a stoppage time header off the goalline denied Rovers victory, even though Anthony Grant was the visitors' third dismissal on 76 minutes.
Generous home fans at the end saluted Luton's eight men but there was probably more than a hint of frustration in that!
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