Cool Rovers put dire Saints in deep freeze

THE champagne was not the only thing Bristol Rovers kept on ice after their FA Cup fifth round triumph over Southampton on Saturday.

While the League One club’s fans in the 11,920 crowd — a record for a football match at the Memorial Stadium — celebrated the Pirates’ place in the last eight with the same gusto as if they had won the cup itself, their heroic players were far more subdued. And it was not only because of the extraordinary effort they generated in defeating their visitors from the Championship, or the fact that as cup shocks go, this was not entirely unexpected as Southampton had failed to win their previous four matches.

No, the reason for the lack of excitement among the home players as they trudged back down the tunnel was the realisation of what faced them next. Rather than line up for the stock giantkillers’ photograph of spraying bubbly over everyone in the dressing room, Rovers’ players restored the great cup final tradition of the communal bath: the only difference being this one was full of ice and freezing cold air.