It's Akinde magic

SOMETIMES you take desperate measures in an effort to ensure your team wins.
Last season I actually bet AGAINST the Gas.
The episode went like this.
The Saints fan who sits next to me thought his team had an outside chance of making the play-offs. We had just about blown our chances.
The two teams were meeting at the Mem the following week and both of us were desperate for victory - for bragging rights more than anything.
He said to me: "Let's have an office bluey on it."
Now an office bluey is a fiver. It is the standard bet when one of our teams takes on a side supported by another person in the office.
I wasn't too keen. I felt I might as well hand him the cash there and then, so bad was our form.
Looking at the unenthusiastic expression on my face he quickly changed tack.
"Actually I've got a better idea. Are you going to the game?"
I admitted that I was.
"Then let's try something different. I'll refund your admission price if Saints win, and you pay me 17 quid if Rovers win. That way neither of us will mind losing the bet, and we'll have some consolation if our team is beaten."
I won the 17 quid and have never felt so miserable. We lost 5-1 after going 1-0 up against the run of play. Rickie Lambert, our former hero, was the main catalyst of our demise.
Southampton that day were everything we weren't. They played with style, pace, attacking intent and had a substitutes' bench that cost more than our entire team.
Things haven't changed much.
And we're facing them again tomorrow afternoon. Yikes.
Once again an office bluey is at stake, and until this afternoon I felt I had no hope of collecting.
Even though they've had a poor start to the season, the odds are stacked against us.
They're going to get it right soon and I fancy their revival will start at the Mem.
For heaven's sake they've even signed a Brazilian midfielder.
Perhaps we should con them into thinking we've done the same, and list our midfield in the match programme as Blizzardinho and Campbelliso.
Still, something amazing happened this afternoon to give me a glimmer of hope.
We've actually signed another striker on loan until January. Big bloke, hopefully capable of terrorising defences.
The good news: He's 6ft 2ins. The bad news: He comes from our arch nemeses from across the city.
Still, if John Akinde can solve the problem we've been facing ever since Lambo left, you won't see too many Gasheads moaning.
It would be great if he could start off with a goal against the Saints and earn me a fiver in the process.

We've had some interesting tussles with Southampton in the past. As I have said previously in this blog, my first Rovers game amounted to a 7-0 friendly defeat by the Saints at Eastville.
But a few years later I recall a famous day when we knocked them out of the FA Cup 2-0.
We had a young striker who had come straight off the checkout at a supermarket in Somerset name of Paul Randall, a real poacher, who grabbed both of the goals that day. He went on to become a Rovers legend, returning for a second spell after a brief time in the top flight with Stoke City.
In 1981 I recall getting a special train from Parkway to Southampton with a big turnout of Gasheads for a cup tie that we lost 3-1.
Until now, though, sharing a division with them was a fantasy.
Last season I had a week off and persuaded the Mrs that it would be a good idea to visit Southampton on a brief road trip around southern England. The day we got there just happened to coincide with Rovers playing at St Mary's.
What a game it was, too. There was a great following of Gasheads behind the goal, and although we took quite a battering we always looked dangerous on the counter attack with loanee Chris Dickson quite sharp up front and new fullback Carl Regan looking a good signing.
Star of the show, though, was goalkeeper Mikkel Anderson, on loan from Reading, who made some outstanding saves when we could have shipped a few.
Then, in injury time, Andy Williams, the Forest Gump-style striker we have now offloaded to Yeovil, scored a spectacular goal to win us the game 3-2.
I thought: "What a result! That could just make our season."
Hmm. It turned out to be a turning point, but for the wrong reasons.
That weekend we shipped five goals at Norwich, the start of a run of seven defeats in a row. Ouch!
Dickson went back to Charlton, his early season promise having evaporated, and Regan's form deserted him.
Still, I won the office bluey on the back of the St Mary's result - a triumph that I didn't have too long to celebrate.
I handed the cash back a few weeks later when they beat us 3-2 in the FA Cup at the Mem.