L1: Yeovil 0 Bristol Rovers 3

Funny old game, not that I was laughing. A 3-0 loss at home sounds like a fairly comprehensive thrashing; well, it is a fairly comprehensive thrashing, and yet it could easily have been different. The stats make interesting reading: The Glovers had 7 efforts on goal, most of them in the first half, none of them on target. The Gas had a total of 3 efforts on goal and scored from all 3. We had 9 corners to their 5 and enjoyed 52% of the possession. We lost the game in both penalty boxes. Our defending was poor and our final ball into the box even worse. Anything that could go wrong did go wrong.

We lined up as follows (4-4-2):

1. Alex McCarthy: 4/10 - Is a tough season beginning to catch up with Alex at last, I wonder? He's been excellent for the most part, but there's been signs in the last few games that he's just starting to struggle a little. Yesterday he struggled a lot. Dithered on a back pass to gift Rovers their first goal and didn't really recover from that. He's certainly been due a bad game, let's hope this was it and he's back to the keeper we know next time out.

2. Craig Alcock: 6/10 - Probably the pick of the back four for me on the day. Usual all-action performance, but not much in the way of end-product when he went forward.

5. Steven Caulker: 5/10 - I know, burn the heretic! How dare I do anything other than praise young Steven to the skies? Sorry, but I don't think he played that well yesterday. Was AWOL for their second goal (as was Forbes to be fair) and that wasn't the only time he was caught out of position during the match - one of which times he even felt compelled to take one for the team and picked up his first booking of the season. But if anyone's entitled to have an off-day then it's him.

6. Terrell Forbes: 5/10 - As with Caulker, never really got to grips with the Rovers front two, especially during the first half. Should have scored with a free header at the back post from one of our many corners but put it wide. One of those days.

28. Nathan Smith: 5/10 - Bit of a nothing game for Nathan. Only got forward occasionally which was a shame because he looked to have the beating of his opposite number when he did. Okay-ish defensively.

10. Gavin Tomlin: 5/10 - Started well, but faded badly as the match went on, particularly when he went up front in Sam Williams place. Not entirely his fault though, with the best will in the world he's no-one's idea of a target man so why did we lump so many balls towards his head?

21. JP Kalala: 7/10 - Typical box-to-box display from JP. Probably my man of the match. He must be worth a 2 year contract in the summer surely? Don't call me Shirley.

27. Scott Davies: 4/10 - My first sighting of our new loanee and I'm afraid I'm struggling to see what he brings to the party. Never really got involved, didn't look particularly fit, offered very little going forward or defensively. No surprise to see him subbed eventually.

25. Shaun MacDonald: 6/10 - I know he's played on the left side of midfield before, certainly at Swansea, but to me he never looks completely comfortable there. Did well enough, but IMO it's not his position. At his best as a box-to-box midfielder. If he was moved to accommodate Scott Davies then I hope it's the last time that happens.

9. Sam Williams: 7/10 - I've given him a 7 not so much for what I saw him do, but for the negative effect on the team after he was replaced halfway through the first half. When he was on the pitch we looked like scoring (even if we, er, didn't), as soon as he went off you had the feeling we could have played for another 90 minutes without coming close.

14. Dean Bowditch: 5/10 - He ran around a lot without much effect it has to be said. If he ain't scoring then he ain't that noticeable.

Subs:
7. Arron Davies (24 mins for Sam Williams): 4/10 - Started on the right and then moved into the middle as the second striker after the break. Supremely ineffective in either position. If this is Arron playing for his future then the future is elsewhere.

11. Andy Welsh (63 mins for Scott Davies): 4/10 - I know he came on because Dave Linney said so. I don't know what he did when he was on though.

Hmmm, re-reading all that and it sounds like we had a collective 'mare, but it wasn't that bad in truth. Given that we gave the Gas a goal start we actually played quite well for the first 20 minutes and created some very respectable chances which unfortunately we didn't take. The second goal was a sickening one to give away with 3 Rovers attackers enjoying the freedom of our penalty box with defenders nowhere to be seen. But even then we still created chances and if we could have nicked one back before the break I would have been optimistic for the second half. Alas it wasn't to be and the third Rovers goal was the killer. Heads dropped and both teams went through the motions in the second half, but everyone there knew the game was over at half-time. We've got a fortnight off now without a game, and we need it. I daresay the team could do with recharging their batteries as well.

Just read: The Winter Ghosts by Kate Mosse: Beautifully written ghost story set in France in the years after the 1st World War. Haunting, lyrical, and if you're the nervous type, not at all scary. Best of all, it's nice and short, I read it in one sitting. I'll be looking out for more by this author.