THE MAIN GUY

Grabbing hat-trick in 7-2 Fireworks Night cracker still earns Chaplain praise in street from Rovers fans

Scott Chaplain still has diehard Albion Rovers fans reminding him of his hat- trick in the 7- 2 Monklands derby win – and reckons that result can inspire the current crop of Cliftonhill talent to survival.

The midfielder, who enjoyed three spells in Coatbridge, still has punters posting to social media and talking to him about about the historic derby win, which marked the first time Rovers had earned bragging rights in Monklands for 35 years.

The Scotland Futsal coach hopes Rovers can lift their game as they look to build momentum to keep their place in League One.

“The 7-2 game is one of the absolute highlights of my career at Rovers,” he told the Advertiser. “We obviously were going through a successful period and I was playing with a great team.

“That result certainly stands out; it was a crazy game. That season we were a bit hot and cold but we showed the amount of good players we had that day.

“Every November 5 the fans will tweet at me or if you bump into fans they will talk to me about the hat-trick. So it certainly is one of those games that lives in the memory as a positive experience for the Rovers fans.”

He continued: “I remember the fans had t-shirts on with the score and the goalscorers – that was great.

“That season they beat us twice and we managed to beat them twice.

“It was always a good derby, I really enjoyed playing in the game.

“It was always a game that had a bit extra. You got a few more fans in and that can really take you up a level.”

Chaplain has been keeping an eye on the form book of Rovers this season – and insists the up and down results of Brian Kerr’s side this season hold a lot of similarities to the team he played in.

Despite the historic derby win, patchy form saw Rovers slip down the table and go into the relegation play-off spot,

However, a battling win over two legs against Elgin City and a penalty shoot-out against Stranraer saw them keep their place in the third tier.

Chaplain, who will be inducted to the Rovers Hall of Fame as part of the first class at the end of the season, has called for the Cliftonhill men to use an inspired derby win as a launch pad for survival.

He said: “The Albion Rovers players of this season are probably similar to us that season. We went through spells; we didn’t start the season well but pushed on in the second and third quarter.

“Then we had a bad patch – but the squad we had then should have stayed up without needing a play-off.

“I’m sure the fans will agree, though, that Rovers always seem to do the things the hard way. But I think I preferred doing it the way we did it, though! The problem for us that season was consistency. We were playing free flowing football one week and then a team would do the same against us.

“It’s a similar story. Rovers this season were scoring a lot of goals but not getting the results.

“This is the time of the season where you need to get the results. A win can be a springboard.”

Rovers always seem to do things the hard way