Joy of the Rovers

Just when back-to-back defeats were starting to make Rovers' 11 game unbeaten run look like it would be the piniccle of their season, they surpassed that achievement in the space of a fortnight with four successive wins. Last Saturday they played some fantastic football to beat Mildenhall Town - certainly the best I've seen the play for some time - and the 2-1 scoreline in no way reflected their supremacy. And their good run had already started when they crushed CRC 4-0 11 days before.

This was complemented by further impressive victories, as they first triumphed 1-0 at Wivenhoe Town before winning by the same scoreline at Ely City. The four match winning streak has propelled them up to the dizzying heights of third place - just four off meeting manager Peter Betts' self confessed initial aim of the 40 point safety mark. With each win and each impressive performance Rovers move further and further away from looking like a team trying to stay up and more and more like a looking to go up. Though that may still be a little ambitious, the aims already seem to be transforming from top ten to perhaps top six - and captain Marcus Hunt stated that if the former is not achieved, given their current position it would be a 'disappointment'.

What has been good about these victories was the way the team set about achieving them - ironically, the game in which they dominated most they scraped a 2-1 win, yet the game where they barely saw the ball for 45 minutes they eased to a 4-0 win. Mildenhall arrived at New Croft on a good run of their own, having dispatched league leaders Dereham Town and leapfrogging mid table Newmarket Town with a home win in their previous two fixtures. They certainly promised to provide a challenge, yet Rovers started dominating from very early on.

Hunt had soon hit the bar before Stuart Wardley cooly controlled and slotted home, and in the second half the flow of chances continued. The only worry - as Betts said to me - is that more chances were not converted sooner, as they could and should have been three or four goals ahead with plenty of time to spare. Dalton O'Brien looks and increasing threat up front, albeit without a goal in this game, and the players are increasingly confident that with him leading the line then victory is always within their sights. Neil Cogger and Greg Strong are starting to provide a good attacking threat down the left, and are complemented by Marc Abbott's fine form from the centre of the field.

Stuart Kingham continues to excel at being a nuisance to any opponents infront of the back four, while Wardley and Hunt have both been miserly all season. Unfortunately, instead of capitalising on the steady stream of chances, they looked like the Rovers of last season as chances went missing. Cogger was guilty of a couple of glaring misses when he was moved to the centre, and the problem of leading 1-0 surfaced when Mildenhall snatched an undeserved equaliser. Fortunately Hunt stepped up to head home Jack Higgs' long free kick and spare the blushes on a foggy day at New Croft (I was somewhat surprised that the game even went ahead).

Betts said to me after that he was not worried when Mildenhall scored, as he was confident that Rovers would score again. His faith was proved right, and well founded based on the display. He maintains that his team must keep the right attitude and not become complacent, avoiding frustrating results like the defeats at home by basement club Debenham LC and table toppers Dereham. They certainly seem to have the right attitude, and will be rightly confident of continuing their run at third from bottom Felixstowe and Walton United on Saturday.

One of the key factors to the team's success has been the increasing quality in the squad, a testament to Betts' magaerial skill in building such a talented team on a shoestring. He told that 'whereas last season we had 13 quality players, this season we have 18'. Hunt also said this has kept everyone on their toes as nobody can take their place in the first XI for granted. Quality players like Higgs, Joe Boreham, Louis Harper and Sam Holmes are struggling to force their way into the starting XI, while Craig Cutts has been more reliable than I expected as foil for O'Brien and several players from the second XI are developing well.

Nevertheless, this squad size will be tested after Christmas. The games will come thick and fast, and hopefully the players will have remained fast without their waists getting too thick during the festive period. The fact that others are waiting in the wings to step into the first XI should keep everyone fit and hungry for success, and this can only be good for the team's fortunes.

Despite the last three results not being the walloping victories we'd all like to see, it is at least good to see Rovers in the habit of 'grinding out a result'. Last year too many points were dropped as wins became draws and draws became defeats, in part due to poor finishing and in part due to a lack of squad cover. This year has been different though, and the recent results show the side is capable of going to difficult places and nicking a win. Hunt admitted that last year the 1-0 wins at Wivenhoe and Ely 'would have been 0-0 draws or 1-0 losses' (they actually won 2-0 at Wivenhoe but lost 3-2 at Ely).

So things are certainly looking positive for the rest of the season - a remarkable turnaround over the last two years, and Hunt admits now that 'as a team', this squad is better than the one that came so close to reaching the FA Cup First Round Proper three years ago. If the players can remain fit and in form, and if they can keep the correct attitude as Betts desires to overturn teams below them in the table, then top ten may even start to look like under-expectation, let alone avoiding relegation.

To see my interview with Marcus Hunt see this week's Haverhill Echo, out tomorrow (Thursday, November 25).