An unreserved apology

I am not a fully-trained football coach.
I am not in charge of a small squad of reasonably decent players.
I am not, week in week out, in fear that I will lose my job if the people under my charge aren't at their best for 90 minutes.
And it is with great humility and respect that I get down on bended knee and say: "Sorry, and well done, Paul Trollope".
From previous posts my reader will realise that I am not the greatest fan of the manager of my beloved Gas.
To be honest, I have been particularly underwhelmed by some of his achievements this year.
Our 3-0 home defeat to Orient was the lowest of plenty of low points, and I must admit I actually posted on the Gas website that I feared for our fate at the Valley.
But, when Rovers had their backs to the wall with a growing injury and suspension crisis, I can do nothing but praise the person in charge to get us a point from each of our tough away games against league leaders Brighton and second-placed Charlton.
After listening to the game at the Valley on the radio all I can say is, "Respect, PT, for a job well done".
It seems our team was impeccably organised and, though we had goalkeeper Mikkel Andersen and our back four to thank for keeping out the opposition, perhaps we earned our luck.
Final score: South London club with a Premier League pedigree, good stadium and pretty decent budget 1,
Paupers of the West Country 1.
To be honest, the way Trolls has had to shuffle things around after suspensions to defenders Carl Regan and Byron Anthony, and injuries to Will Hoskins and Charlie Reece, would make even Tony Hancock shrink.
The deceased comedian once did a sketch where he decided to make some changes to a winning team at half time, put the smallest player in goal and switched the goalkeeper up front. The result was catastrophic.
And I honestly feared, and voiced my fears, that the idea of our left back going to right back, our left winger going to left back and a central midfielder being utilised on the right wing had "recipe for disaster" written all over it.
Though it sounds like we had some lucky breaks, it also sounds like our manager got his tactics pretty much spot on and was able to raise our team for the challenge.
Good work Trolls.
Mind you, we are still only 16th in the league and three points away from the relegation zone, so it is no time for backslapping.
And my big fear is that though Trolls is obviously a pretty decent coach tactically, particularly when it means playing on the break, most Gasheads are worried that our home performances don't match up.
We've got Bournemouth - promoted last season, flying high this, with no money at their disposal and having sold their top scorer to our nasty neighbours - at home in our next game, followed by an away trip to in-form Sheffield Wednesday and another home game against impressive Colchester.
It is going to take a lot more than backs-to-the-wall performances to get us what we need from those games - I would say five points at the very least.
Still, credit where credit is due. I still think Trolls is more coach than manager, but to get his players to rise to the occasion in their last two games suggests he certainly possesses some powers of motivation.