CONTRASTING FORTUNES FOR POTTERS ON RETURN TO WATCH ROVERS PLAY
WHAT to do on a blank international weekend? For your average Stoke fan an afternoon in front of the TV often beckons. Many, though, will venture out to a local non-league club such as Hanley Town, Kidsgrove Athletic, Leek Town or Newcastle Town, swelling attendances in many cases above the 1,000 mark, which is fantastic.
For me, I wanted to try something a bit different last weekend. So, instead, I pottered down to Bristol to visit a new ground, as the last time I saw Rovers play a home game in October 1988 they were playing at Bath’s Twerton Park.
Appropriately the Memorial Ground, formerly the home of Bristol Rugby Club until their 2014 move to share with Rovers’ rivals Bristol City at Ashton Gate, was so called because it was built in recognition of the sacrifice made by the city’s sons in the First World War. So my visit coinciding with the Remembrance Day weekend was entirely appropriate.
But this was no random trip just to notch up another groundhopping experience; there was, of course, a Stoke-related reason for my sojourn to the West Country.
Two in fact.
I was paying homage on the one hand and doing some scouting on the other.
For wearing Rovers’ colours were none other than former hero Glenn Whelan and current Stoke youngster Connor Taylor, on loan at the Gas.
And the pair had an extremely eventful game.
It was comforting seeing our Glenn, as I still think of him, pulling on his boots aged nearly 38. A decade on from being part of that team which reached the FA Cup final and played in Europe, Whelo is still a class act, albeit one with legs that don’t run quite as far or as quickly, hence being in League Two.
There were many reassuringly familiar aspects of his display; from kick-off Rovers rolled the ball back to him and he did that thing where he stopped it with his studs, rolled it forward a yard or so and then clipped it out to the left wing, where it went over the leaping players and out for a throw.
As I said, reassuringly familiar.
But Whelan’s quality was soon to the fore with several first-time passes, including one from a steepling, dropping ball in centre field, raking out to Josh Grant on the left.
One ball led to Grant hitting the post and our Glenn was at the heart of a strong Rovers performance against a Northampton Town team that started the game third in the division with four consecutive wins.
It didn’t take too long for the other side of Glenn Whelan to emerge, though, as he has been known to fly into a challenge or two whilst wearing Stoke colours. This game was no different; within 11 minutes he was booked for a late, lunging tackle on
the Cobblers’ Shaun Mcwilliams. The tightrope was being walked.
Halfway through the second half, Whelo failed to continue his balancing act when he went flying into a tackle on Mitchell Pinnock, from around five yards away, before realising what he’d done and attempting to pull out of it. His momentum took him right into Pinnock, however, with his legs raised despite being on the floor, and an inevitable yellow card, seeing him sent off, followed.
It was reminiscent of the challenge which saw Robert Huth sent off in the snow against Sunderland in January 2012 when his momentum on the skiddy Britannia Stadium pitch took him into David Meyler, sending the midfielder flying into the air.
Mind you, City manager Tony Pulis wasn’t having any of Huth’s dismissal on that wintry afternoon, slamming Meyler for ‘play acting’ in his postmatch interviews. And there were many around me in the crowd at Rovers who