DESPITE beating one of the favourites for promotion last weekend, Town fans had to endure another lacklustre away day from Mark Cooper’s side on Tuesday night.

After such an encouraging performance and result last Saturday, the Town faithful were left scratching their heads trying to understand why the same team couldn’t reproduce the same quality away from home.

If Town has any ambitions of finishing inside the top six next May, beating poor sides like Stevenage have to be commonplace.

Thankfully the Town squad doesn’t have to wait long to get that performance out their system, as they face struggling Gillingham at Priestfield on Saturday.

Just when Town fans thought 'The Nile Ranger Story' had come to an end, the club made the surprising decision to allow the striker to make a return to the Town squad at the weekend.

Lets be honest, if the guy wasn’t one of the best strikers in the Football League he would have been released months ago.

But because of his God given talent, his shirt is still being hung up in the Town dressing room on Matchdays.

Let’s hope his apology to his teammates and the manager was genuine, and he will now get his head down, and focus on the job of getting Town promoted.

Another surprise greeted home fans last Saturday as defender Raphael Rossi Branco not only made a starting appearance, but was also Town’s standout man on the day.

Brazilian-born Rossi Branco joined Town in the summer from non-league side Whitehawk, but since his arrival he’s only got to know many of the dugouts around League One.

His debut for the club was a disappointing one last October against Plymouth in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy.

But after his impressive display away at Bradford, the centre-back has forced his way into Mark Cooper’s team selection.

Despite coming up against one of League One’s best attacking line-up’s, Branco looked confident as he threw himself in front of every shot and made more than one key challenge throughout the game.

Of course he’s still got along way to go before he can be called a first team regular, but the start he’s made has been an encouraging one.

Despite this, Town’s back four still need another new face to add some more quality, and vital experience that’ll be needed as Town go in search of a playoff place.

Town’s squad not only needs more faces at the back but up front, even with the signing of George Barker in this transfer window.

Nicky Ajose has not being replaced since his departure back to Peterborough, and Nile Ranger will be out of action over parts of February as his court case begins in Newcastle.

Thankfully two of the clubs key players, Wes Foderingham and Alex Pritchard haven’t been the subject of an enquiry yet, but I’d expect that to change.

It wouldn’t surprise me if interest was also shown in Nathan Thompson; the fullback has been one of the clubs most consistent performers over the past few years and has shown his versatility throughout the season.

The 23-year-old is almost certainly destined to play at a much higher level than League One, let’s hope that’s with Town in the not too distant future.

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