Football Gas giving fans something to cheer

BRISTOL Rovers are only eight games into their League Two campaign, but already they have experienced a range of emotions that teams feel over the course of an entire season.

- Daniel HARGRAVES

The first couple of weeks of the campaign felt eerily similar to the back end of the previous season despite changes in the dugout and squad over the summer. However, those four-straight defeats at the start of the campaign feel like they're now in the distant past.

A goalless draw at home to Oldham Athletic, put a first point on the board which has since acted as a platform to build from as Darrell Clarke’s side have gone on a four-game winning streak in the league.

Despite recent results, the Pirates are yet to win a game by more than aone-goal margin and clearly there is still a great deal of work to do.

The season is long and there will be more bumps in the road but at long last, Rovers fans have something to shout about.

Here are some of the things we have learned so far ...

Signings settling in swiftly

With a total of 14 new signings over the summer, there always has to be some degree of patience for the gelling process to take place. However, there is also a degree of concern about that process taking more time than is ideal.

Bristol Rovers brought in 16 players last summer and they never really gelled. So far this season, to their credit, a significant proportion of the summer incomings look right at home.

The likes of Jack Sparkes, Alfie Kilgour, Macauley Southam-Hales, Josh McEachran and Luke Southwood were among the earlier arrivals and immediately appeared set to be part of the core group of players. Sparkes, Kilgour and Southwood were nominated for the club's August player of the month award while McEachran has found his feet pretty quickly and Southam-Hales has overcome a setback early in the campaign.