Bournemouth put on the best display I have seen from them this season at the weekend but we still came away with a 0-0 draw in a game we really needed to win.
We absolutely dominated a Rotherham side that, if like they hadn’t been deducted 17 points like Bournemouth, would have been fourth in the table ahead of Saturday’s fixture.
It was dubbed the ‘deduction derby’ or the ‘minus six pointer’ but in truth there was only one team in it and, despite my pessimistic comments every time the visitors had a set piece in our half, the Millers never looked like scoring.
It was simply a matter of Bournemouth making the breakthrough but, despite repeatedly knocking at the door, the Cherries could find no way through.
Former England international Darren Anderton was central to everything but he will be extremely disappointed by one close range miss and was desperately unlucky when another effort crashed against the inside of the post.
Rather than force players into unfamiliar positions, Jimmy Quinn has adapted a 3-5-1-1 formation to get the best out of the players at his disposal.
It means we can easily dominate teams in the middle of the park but we continue to lack a cutting edge up front.
On loan Rushden and Diamonds forward Michael Rankine was the latest to get a run out up front at the weekend and, while he looked strong and tidy enough, there was nothing to suggest he could become the prolific hitman we so desperately need.
In Brett Pitman, Rankine, Blair Sturrock, Jeff Goulding and Craig Linfield we have five strikers vying for the lone front man role and if you add long-term injury victim Alan Connell, as well as Lee Bradbury – a striker converted into a wing back - and youngster Steve Hutchings, that makes eight centre forwards at Dean Court.
For a club with a limited budget for playing staff that’s an awful lot of options but the problem is none of them look like scoring over 15 goals in a season.
There was so much encouragement to take from Saturday’s display and plenty to suggest our midfielders will chip in with goals – on another day they could have had four.
But I can’t help feeling it’s going to be a very long season unless we find a prolific goalscorer but I’m beginning to feel Quinn has pretty much tried everything he can.
It’s all very well playing decent football but we are in a position where we must convert dominance into points.
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