Flamin' marvellous

WE have a dance troupe at the Mem called the Blue Flames.
They are a group of schoolgirls aged roughly between 10 and 15 who have to prance about on the pitch in front of a bunch of grumpy old men, and young ones too, during the half-time break.
As cheerleaders go, they are strictly League 2 level. More Stavros Flatley than Riverdance. Mind you, even Gene Kelly would struggle on our pitch - he may have coped with singing in the rain, but Dancing in a Swamp?
Yet I felt a twinge of sympathy for them on Saturday. They were all ready to perform their routine when the announcer revealed: "I'm sorry, but the CD they have given me doesn't work."
It resulted in this bunch of hardy young ladies having to perform their steps to an entirely different song in temperatures dropping by the second. The tune was "Can You Dig It?" by the Mock Turtles. I wasn't sure if it was some kind of subliminal message from the Groundsman, to be honest.
Still, I guess the girls made the best of a bad job.
Fitting really, because that's what our new boss Mark McGhee was forced to do on Saturday. Some more miserable Gasheads among us might say it is what we are asking him to do, full stop.
To say he pulled it off would be some kind of understatement.
In his first home game in charge, Mr McGhee found himself robbed of a significant number of his first-team squad.
Yet his make do and mend baptism - not helped by the loss of our in-form right back Danny Woodards after just a few minutes - proved a resounding success.
A 2-1 win against 10 man Bradford might not sound particularly convincing, and it was squeeky bum time towards the end particularly when Chris Zebroski mowed down speedy sub Kyal Reid yet the referee failed to point to the penalty spot, but I must admit it was my most enjoyable day at the Mem for a very long time.
At last I was seeing a Rovers team who were prepared to compete for every ball - despite the fact they were depleted by injuries.
The fans on the Blackthorne were loud and supportive, the moans were kept to a minimum, and the action was pretty intense throughout.
A few weeks ago we would have been bullied out of a game like this. Make no mistake, Bradford were prepared to put themselves about.
But the introduction of an experienced and dominant centre back in Aaron Downes and an unflappable keeper in Michael Poke has made the world of difference.
Downes has been just the partner needed by the young but raw on-loan Leicester defender Cian Bolger and the two of them won headers all day long, sometimes under intense pressure from some physical Bradford challenges.
And what first impressions of Mr McGhee?
AS we stood on the family enclosure before kick off I asked: "Isn't that Mark McGhee out there in the tracksuit?"
"Ooh, I don't know. It looks a bit like him," said my pal Haydn.
The guy in question was taking a full part in the pre-game training, chatting affably to some of the players.
But, as far as I could tell, there was no announcement beforehand that our new manager had taken the pitch, no salute to the crowd, no turning to all four sides of the ground to clap his new fanbase.
When he left the pitch after the warm ups my mate agreed. "Yeah, you're right. It's him."
I liked this understated approach, in stark contrast to Paul Buckle's arrival in a fanfare of publicity and premature glory.
And nothing changed when McGhee walked back across the pitch before kick off, wearing the same tracksuit.
He acknowledged the salute of the Uplands Terrace behind the dug out, took time out to sign a few autographs for younger fans and then got down to work.
My first impressions of him were of a total professional here to concentrate on doing a job rather than get wrapped up in all the hype that inevitably surrounds new managers.
I guess at the age of 54 he has seen it all before, and certainly the way Rovers lined up in the opening half gave further evidence of a man who was trying to think differently to get the best out of the limited number of options he had available.
A case in point was a more advanced role for our on-loan midfielder Andy Dorman, suggesting that the new boss had seen him play for St Mirren while he was doing a job north of the border.
At St Mirren Dorman racked up 24 goals in 108 appearances and became a fans' favourite, yet he has played a holding role in midfield since the start of his loan spell with the Gas and has yet to hit the target.
Interesting.
McGhee had the advantage of an early goal as Lee Brown, in his new advanced role, struck the opener. But then things changed with Woodards leaving the field.
It meant Rovers were forced to cut their cloth, bringing Michael Smith across to the right back role to which he is more accustomed and pushing Brown back to left back.
A shame, not just because Woodards has become a key player for the Gas but because it meant we couldn't see more of the starting formation and tactics.
Still, it seems that slowly the optimism is coming back to a club choked by frustration and blunted expectations. Ten points out of 12 and the fear of relegation seems to be fading away.
Can't wait to see what Mr McGhee does with a full squad at his disposal and perhaps the option to dip into the transfer market.

Reasons I'm not a football manager, number 93.
Ten minutes into the second half I turned to my mate and remarked: "That Elliot Richards is struggling. His control doesn't seem to be up to much and I think he's our weak link at the moment. McGhee should take him off."
Fast forward five minutes and I'm jumping for joy with the rest of the Gasheads as young Richards charges through onto a defensive mistake to blast our second goal under the Bradford keeper.
I'd like to say I'll keep my mouth shut in future - but I don't think I'd be able to stick to that promise.