Playing with a level of urgency akin to a condemned man eating his last meal, Rovers accidentally sent Uncle Bulgaria and chums back to SW19 on the end of a 2-1 defeat.
Wimbledon were no better than Rovers and seemed content to play hot potato for 90 minutes. They took the lead when Josh Davison’s tame poke at goal was mis-fielded by Jonathan Mitchell in the manner of Inzamam-Ul-Haq. I won’t dwell on the error, he was clearly mortified and made two smart saves in the second half to redeem himself. However, if Mitchell is a long-term solution in goal, then Rovers are going to have to learn to keep the ball away from him.
The equaliser on 27 minutes came from a close-range Harrison Biggins header after a good cross by Charlie Seaman. Up to then, it was the only instance of forward intent Rovers had shown, although this wasn’t surprising when the crab like Charlie Lakin was given a starting berth over Kyle Hurst. It was his introduction, for the injured Lakin, on 20 minutes that pushed Rovers from pootle to pedestrian. The winner came from George Miller on the half hour, when Ben Close’s free-kick was smartly, and surprisingly, turned out to him near the edge of the box to apply a neat finish.
The second half was uneventful, but with no further substitutions it did allow one to wonder just how bad Todd Miller must be at football. A welcome victory but God it was tedious.
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