by Paul Williams

Maybe a change of manager will bring about a change or fortune – or maybe it won’t.

Opinions are divided about whether Paul Dickov was given enough time this season to gel his new-look squad but performances certainly haven’t got any better since last season and, if possible, the goals have dried up even more. Most would agree that the current squad should really be doing better so now it’s up the Corporal, for the time being, to galvanise his troops and start moving the club in the right direction again.

Walsall have obvious Rovers connections in defender Jimmy O’Connor and assistant manager Richard O’Kelly and were going great guns prior to last Saturday’s home defeat by Bury, their first of the campaign. No doubt that was the curse of the Manager Of The Month award for Dean Smith but he can welcome back a couple of players from international duty against Rovers, who have included Richie Wellens in the matchday squad. Paul Keegan could make his first league start of the season and Danny N’Guessan is also likely to feature.

We’ve had mixed results at the Banks’s Stadium in recent years but a point would probably be a decent return this time considering all that has gone off in the last seven days.

by Paul Williams

Some say that if Kent is the Garden of England, then the towns on the Medway are where you’d put the compost heap. I’m not sure that’s true – have you ever been to Margate?

The town of Gillingham fills the gap between the former naval dockyards at Chatham and Rochester Castle. I accidentally found myself there once, outside of the football season, and must say it does have a nice fish and chip shop and several traffic lights. But, apart from commanding a view of the Kingsnorth power stations, I couldn’t see what else the town had going for it.

However, the football team has made a better start than most to the new League 1 campaign under Justin Edinburgh, with long-haired midfielder Bradley Dack among the goals.  The Gills are unbeaten so far in the league but Rovers have only lost once at the windy Priestfield since 1996 – Harry Forrester’s freak 40-yarder securing a point last season.

Oscar Gobern could make his debut for Paul Dickov’s men this weekend in the midfield spot vacated by want-away Richie Wellens – thanks for the memories Richie but we’ve done fine without you in the last two games.

The youngsters will be back on the bench at Gillingham after battling hard in the JPT on Tuesday so let’s hope that the first team can follow their lead and grab a result in Kent to make further strides up the table.

by Paul Williams

We beat Burton in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy last season so that is one omen that is in our favour ahead of tonight’s meeting at the Keepmoat.

It’s a tournament that holds found memories for Rovers’ fans but Paul Dickov must be tempted to rest a few of his depleted first-team squad in a competition that doesn’t normally get serious for clubs until the semi-final stage. You would certainly think that the likes of Andy Butler, James Coppinger and Andy Williams could do with a break having played every minute of every game so far.

But competition rules state that you have to play at least half of the team that started the previous league game and the manager has few option to switch things around, though Jack McKay, Billy Whitehouse and Liam Mandeville must all be close to a start and Cameron Stewart got half an hour in the win over Fleetwood.

The Brewers have made an excellent start to life in League 1 and have only lost once so far. So have Rovers, of course, but we’ve only managed one win compared to Albion’s four.

The visitors could include former Rovers midfielder Mark Duffy, who is on loan from Birmingham and scored his team’s winner at Shrewsbury on Saturday, though Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink will also make changes and is still without another loanee, Zeli Ismail, as well as Darius Charles.

This is very much a game that could go either way, though you’d suspect that there wouldn’t be too many tears shed by the losers. At least we’ll be spared extra time if it ends all-square in 90 minutes as this competition goes straight into a penalty shoot-out.

by Paul Williams

Nobody would have remembered last season’s encounter with Fleetwood but for this tongue-in-cheek highlights package on YouTube, put together by DRFC’s SM (Social Media) crew, which went viral.

So, on with this week’s preview:

They score goals – we don’t; they have a full squad to choose from – we don’t; they didn’t play 120 minutes in midweek – we did.

Overall: it doesn't look too hopeful.

by Paul Williams

Bear with me, here’s a hypothetical scenario.

Imagine you’ve inherited a country mansion and you have enough of a private income to employ a gardener.

But, for the past two years, you’ve been undecided about whether to keep the ancestral home or move back to the city. So you’ve been giving the aforementioned gardener a few quid in the spring to buy a few plants to keep the borders looking cheerful. He doesn’t do a particularly good job, but the garden is fairly tidy and there are a few strong, young shoots coming through in the nurseries.

Now, however, you’ve decided to stay. The rich cousin who wanted to take over the estate turned out not to have any money after all and you don’t want to hand over your inheritance to some un-named corporation so it can be turned into flats.

So now you ask your gardener for a shopping list of what he needs to restore the grounds to former glories. He gets most of what he wants but, when you open the bedroom curtains at the start of summer, the garden looks more miserable than ever. Visitors have stopped coming through the gates and those of the new shoots that have been moved from the nurseries are being kept in the shade by old plants which have done blossoming.

Your gardener makes the excuses that some of the flowers he went out and bought arrived with blackspot, which has spread, and even some of those plants that are established have died back. You’ve come to the conclusion that your employee probably isn’t that good at what he does but is the type that will always have an excuse – would you be justified in giving him his cards?

A home game against Ipswich brings back nightmares about Connor Wickham, Gary Woods and ‘The Experiment’.

It’s unlikely that the Championship table-toppers will be unduly concerned about a cup match against a side that’s only outside the League 1 relegation places at present because there are a lot of poor teams in the third tier. Mick McCarthy even played the kids against Stevenage in the first round so maybe he’ll also take pity on injury-stricken Rovers, who are also likely to give some youngsters a chance so wearier legs can be rested.

Given the disdain with which the Capital One Cup is treated in the early stages  – it’s hard to believe that the final of this competition actually attracts a capacity crowd to Wembley.