You can change one result in Rovers' history....

[frosty]

I saw on Twitter earlier that it's 13 years to the day since we played so well against Chelsea in the FA Cup semi at Old Trafford but lost in extra time. It would have been brilliant to win that and play in the first FA Cup final at the new Wembley, plus the teams we had between 2005 and 2008 were good enough to have won something.

That got me thinking - if you could change one result in Rovers' history, what would it be? That game would definitely be up there for me. Arsenal FA Cup semi-final in 2005 too probably. That was the height of the 'Bully Boys' tag and knocking Wenger and Arsenal out would have been so sweet. Both times we'd have played United in the final and we had a decent record against them under Hughes.

Others that come to mind include the home game against the Dingles in 2014. Awful. There wasn't just 'one' result in our 2012 and 2017 relegations that cost us, so hard to pick from those seasons. Further down the list, but maybe Millwall at home in the FA Cup quarter final replay? 2012/13, like the season before it, was an absolutely rotten time to be a Rover (apart from K**n leaving), but an FA Cup semi v Wigan at Wembley would have been good, and winnable. 

They're only from my time going to Rovers, so looking forward to seeing some older games mentioned.

[oldjamfan1]

Good thread! An absolute no-brainer for me. If I could change one result in Rovers' history it would be the 3-0 defeat at Selhurst Park in 1989. The worst feeling I have ever had walking off a football ground. 

Edited April 15, 2020 by oldjamfan1

[Hasta]

I'm guessing the Palace 89 play off game would be it.

To see that team in the 80's finally pit themselves against the top division would have been some achievement, and to have it snatched in such a cruel and controversial way was gut wrenching.

[tomphil]

Palace 89 or i'd have taken a drubbing like the UTD one that pushed Allardyce to the trapdoor pre Wigan away to get rid of Kean before him and his cohorts blagged a contract extension.

[Herbie6590]

21/4/1981

We score just one single goal at Deepdale to collect the three points and therefore just need a win at Eastville the following Saturday to be promoted to Division 1...Marshall Burke missing the best chance rings a bell to me...

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Oxford 3 - Rovers 1. FA Cup 5th round in 1964. We were playing brilliantly up to this point and we were drawn away at Div 4 Oxford.  For once all the other big clubs had been knocked out really early. The final eventually was played between a mid table West Ham and Div 2 Preston. Preston had beaten Oxford in the next round then had to play another Div 2 Club in Swansea in the semi. We could have won the Cup easily that year, we would have been favourites,  but for the slip up at Oxford.

The repercussions were more than just on the field. Leading scorer Fred Pickering then became disenchanted with events at the club.and was sold to Everton and that was the beginning of a down ward slope that ended several years later with us playing in the old 3rd Division.

Edited April 15, 2020 by Tyrone Shoelaces

[Oldgregg86]

For me it would be the fa cup semi v Chelsea absolutely gutted we didn’t win that. 

[simongarnerisgod]

palace play offs away 1989,never felt so dejected ever after a match,before or since,i think it`s because palace we useless in the 1st leg and promotion looked a certainty,it was never a penalty either?

[K-Hod]

FA Cup Semi vs Chelsea, 7-1 at United and the 2-1 defeat at Bolton where we equalised, then they re took the lead directly from the kick off.

[oldjamfan1]

1 hour ago, Herbie6590 said:

21/4/1981

We score just one single goal at Deepdale to collect the three points and therefore just need a win at Eastville the following Saturday to be promoted to Division 1...Marshall Burke missing the best chance rings a bell to me...

To be pedantic, as far as I recall three points for a win didn't come in until the following season Ian.

 

[tonygreenbank]

Probably the Palace result would be up there.

Another big disappointment for me was Stoke away under Howard Kendall when we lost our 20odd unbeaten run. Thousands of Rovers fans packed one side of the ground but were devastated at the end.

A draw or win there would have seen us promoted at the end of the season and Selhurst Park probably wouldn’t have happened.

[iacok]

Palace and Bristol Rovers. Went to both with my mate from Chorley, Jinty. Hated the Swansea fans at the southbound services celebrating their promotion.

[oldjamfan1]

16 minutes ago, tonygreenbank said:

Probably the Palace result would be up there.

Another big disappointment for me was Stoke away under Howard Kendall when we lost our 20odd unbeaten run. Thousands of Rovers fans packed one side of the ground but were devastated at the end.

A draw or win there would have seen us promoted at the end of the season and Selhurst Park probably wouldn’t have happened.

Was it not under Don Mackay Tony?

[Dreyski]

Palace in '89, or either of the Man U travesties (Berg red card, Sherwood disallowed goal) in the early-mid 90's.

[tonygreenbank]

24 minutes ago, oldjamfan1 said:

Was it not under Don Mackay Tony?

You’re right! It was Don Mackay! In 1988 it was the season before the Selhurst Park debacle.

[oldjamfan1]

Just now, tonygreenbank said:

You’re right! It was Don Mackay! In 1988 it was the season before the Selhurst Park debacle.

There was a fair bit of aggro that day as I recall. 

[DraytonRover]

Palace for me as well. We should have won the first leg by 4 or 5 as we were that good that night. The Howard Gayle missed penalty gave them something to hang onto. Then the away match was so stacked against us - last 5 minutes of extra time we only needed a goal and they let thousands of Palace fans stand on the edge of the pitch waiting to invade. And my dad got a parking ticket!

Edited April 15, 2020 by DraytonRover
More detail

[tomphil]

39 minutes ago, oldjamfan1 said:

There was a fair bit of aggro that day as I recall. 

Remember being in that side at Stoke packed in so tight from about tens mins before kick off my feet were off the ground as they swayed forwards, backwards and sideways, i'm 6ft ?

God knows how many were actually in there but it must've been way over capacity and it was very tasty afterwards. Always was down there around then though.  Think we played quite well that day but contrived to cock it up i think they just ran out of steam it was a hell of a run. To not go up after half a season unbeaten is gutting in itself never mind the dreaded play offs.

Great times though.

[Crimpshrine]

Match v Liverpool with Mark Atkins own goal. We really deserved to hang on that day.

Totally gutted and really felt sorry for Atkins who was obviously devastated.  

[AspRover]

weird one this but the 1995 charity shield game vs. Everton.

Meant the square root of naff all, but here's the thing - I'm a (relatively) young lad, compared to many on here at least; I had been kind of aware of the title winning side from the point of view of 'we're the best' but it didn't really mean that much to me. I'd have been six or seven and you take it for granted at that age that whatever you happen to like is the best. I knew my dad was excited, I had a shirt, I idolised Shearer but I had no real context; I didn't understand football.

We were living in London at the time, and that game at Wembley was the first time I went to see Rovers in person.

And it was terrible.

I mean we lost, sure, but my abiding memory of the game is one of crushing boredom. It genuinely set my entire interest in football back years. I didn't really get back to supporting football in any meaningful way until the Souness promotion season, and even then it wasn't particularly enthusiastic. It took the league cup win to really drag me back in, and even then I'd say the Hughes era is 'my' Rovers team.

So yeah, a pointless game that very nearly completely killed my interest in football before it had begun.

[matt83]

I’d go with the palace game.

Also the 1-1 vs West Ham that was seemingly the result that deemed Kean good enough to get the managers job. A hefty defeat there and who knows what might have been. 
 

[Herbie6590]

3 hours ago, oldjamfan1 said:

To be pedantic, as far as I recall three points for a win didn't come in until the following season Ian.

 

You’re quite correct, but 2 points rather than 1 would still have made the difference as we stayed down on goal difference

[Leonard Venkhater]

1989 Selhurst Park for me too.

A wild card entry would be Burnley v Orient in May 1987-well there were lots of Rovers fans in the crowd-I saw them!

[toogs]

5 hours ago, oldjamfan1 said:

The worst feeling I have ever had walking off a football ground. 

Same for me. It really was the absolute pits. 
 

[Oldgregg86]

When Rhodes scores and Burnley won 2-1 ending a 35 year run