It was the coldest ticket in town, as just 864 sustained temperatures of -2C at the Mem, just 11 days before Christmas, in a competition that tends to attract emotions wavering between, at best, apathy to downright outright anger at how it’s been meddled with over the last few years.
But for the lack of occasion in BS7 that appeared from afar, Bristol Rovers delivered an impressive performance to beat MK Dons 4-1 and advance into the quarter-finals of the Papa Johns Trophy where they are now two games from a date at Wembley. And should they secure such a prize, you can be sure that the crowd number present will swell considerably by the time the final comes around.
The Gas are certainly playing well enough to do so, as they maintained their excellent form across autumn and now into winter, keeping momentum and that winning feeling, while Joey Barton was able to rest and rotate elements of his squad in preparation for the league fixtures on the horizon.
