Come on Down!

Slum clearance area of London with silliest roundabout in the World..... 2
Pride of the west country...... 1
There comes a time when every supporter of the struggling, lowly, unrecognised, after-thoughts in the world of professional football get their moment in the spotlight.
Their 90 minutes of fame.
It's a time when all the millionaire poseurs who ply their trade in the Premiership get a week's holiday which is termed the international break.
It's a time when they don't do much, just jog about a football pitch and play in third gear before settling for a 0-0 draw (in England's case) with the mighty nation that is Montenegro.
Meanwhile, with nothing else to fill the airways, the tv bigwigs scout around for a game which will perhaps raise a modicum of interest with the general football-loving populous.
On Monday it was our turn - We're on the telly for the local derby at Swindon.
Just like a game show it's: Bristol Rovers, come on down!
Yes, it's our turn to be scrutinised and patronised - not, of course, by the 'top' boys like Andy Gray or Jamie Redknapp. Not even by the second team, in fact. But by 'expert' TV pundits like Don Goodman, that rather inconsequential footballer who has had more clubs than Jack Nicklaus.
And it's a chance for a presenter, not a no 1 name like Richard Keys or Jeff Stelling but on this occasion David Jones (I think), to swat up for eight days so that he can use the term Gasheads as if he knows who we are and follows our every result with keen interest.
No matter. I've had the whole weekend to look forward to it.
And a whole weekend to worry that we might be shown up in front of the watching nation, giving my "friends" around the country the chance to send me mickey-taking sneers on twitter, facebook, email and text message.
Phew, as it is, we escape that.
Ok, we go down 2-1 but I think we give a good account of ourselves in what is an entertaining end-to-end game.
To be honest, with a bit more luck in the first half we might have got a goal and raised the Swindon nerves a bit. After all, we won 4-0 at their place last year - and that was against a team who went on to lose the League One play-off final at Wembley.
Yet despite how well we played in that opening half I always had the suspicion we would lose this one.
Swindon have struggled at the start of this season, but were due a result.
We were in the middle of what Rovers fans would constitute a good run - three wins and a draw out of our last five games, with only the disaster at home to Tranmere interrupting a spell which could have taken us into the top five of the division.
As a Gashead, you know it's all a bit too good to be true.
And that's why I wasn't surprised when we went behind, against the run of play, in the dying minutes of the first half.
The writing was on the wall when our loan striker from Trashton, John Akinde, managed to blast his shot straight at the keeper when through on goal and our new hero, Will Hoskins, managed to blaze over the rebound when the goal was gaping just after the break.
Then we were totally outplayed for a spell of about 15 minutes in which the inevitable second goal came.
So, when it looked like a big defeat might be on the way, I was delighted we carried on fighting and managed to grab a "consolation" penalty at the death through Jeff Hughes.
Impressions? Well, all the "experts" acknowledged both sides showed some good "quality" and I only had one or two gripes.
Our manager Paul Trollope has certainly pulled things around lately, but I still feel he leaves things too late before changing them.
It was obvious during Swindon's second half purple patch that he should make a change to strengthen the midfield by withdrawing one of the strikers, but he didn't do so until after the second goal went in.
Then, with Charlie Reece on the wing and Hoskins moved into a central position, there was enough evidence to suggest we could have turned the game around had the switch been made sooner.
Also, I worry about the fact that every time the Danish Under 21s have a game we lose our first-choice goalkeeper Mikkel Andersen.
Whatever the perceived merits of his replacement Mike Green, it was evident that communications between he and the back four were haphazard, leaving us particularly vulnerable. Also, his distribution and kicking from hand is atrocious.
How often will he be called upon when Mikkel has an away day, I wonder?
And will it cost us valuable points throughout the season? Time will tell.
Still, I'm hoping that, as Trolls insists, we are a work in progress and that we weren't just performing well because of the TV cameras.
Last season we played out of our skins to beat Charlton 2-1 at home, only to finish the season with some pretty appalling results and performances.
Rochdale's manager Keith Hill was one of the experts in the TV studio on Monday.
His team come to the Mem on Saturday.
I'm hoping and praying he hasn't learned too much from our day in the limelight.