Part six IS HERE.

THE FIRST DAY OF A BRAND NEW YEAR is all about brand new starts. About leaving the mistakes of the past behind, about shedding off the baggage of the previous years, about looking out from the precipice toward the 12 months ahead.

For some of us it’s also about waking up with an amalgamated taste in the mouth of approximately 1,000 tab-ends and 8 litres of lager, and about hitherto blacked-out snippets of events of the previous nights’ revellry recalling themselves to memory, as unwelcomed as a stiletto heel at a testicle party.

There was to be no such nonsense for the professional ranks of the Rovers playing squad however. Marked on the calendar for all of a Rovers persuasion for January 1 2007 was a home fixture against Huddersfield, the first match in the Keepmoat Stadium, the first Rovers home league game with a five-figure gate since the Zodiac Killer decided to start joshing around with the residents of Northern California to idle away a bit of spare time and petrol. All in all, pretty landmark stuff.

As starts to a New Year go, chumping Huddersfield by three goals to nil, in a brand new stadium, in front of a 14,500 gate has to rank somewhere in between the 1995 discovery of Fred West hung in his prison cell and the 1958 birth of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five.

More than likely it’s well above the first ever mobile telephone call being made in Great Britain, between (of all people) Ernie Wise, and some business squire from Vodafone on 1 January 1985 - a 5 minute conflab that featured more crackling than a Jamaican 7.

Mark McCammon, Paul Heffernan and Jonathan Forte brought the Terriers to heel and upon the full-time whistle that day there appeared to be endless possibilities mapping themselves out in front of the fans. Fresh and opulent surroundings, massive crowds, an unsure start under Sean O’Driscoll transformed by a surging recent run of form, a Chairman on board at the club not afraid to put his money where his mouth is? Yes-fuckin-please.

Putting aside a regrettable 4-0 home defeat in the 3rd round of the FA Cup to Bolton Wanderers Reserves (you couldn’t help but think this would never have happened in front of a close-to-the-pitch and hostile full house at Belle Vue - would it, Aston Villa?), Rovers continued at full-tilt pace in competitions which we actually had a chance of achieving something in.

Dave Penney made his first visit to the Keepmoat with his new charges, Darlington, in the Northern Area Semi-Final of the Football League Trophy. While Rovers summarily cruised through to the Northern final inside of 90 minutes, the most important event of the evening was the three sides of the ground containing Rovers fans rising as one to champion our former leader with a loud, sustained and thoroughly deserved crescendo of “One Dave Penney” - comprehensively drowning out my own attempts of

Is ‘ere! Is there! Is every-fuckin-where! Dave Penney, Dave Penney!

Anyway - back to League One, and goals from Jason Price and Brian Stock gave Rovers a 2-0 win at Gillingham as the play-off charge began to gather some serious momentum. League leaders and all-round risible twats Scunthorpe United were next up at the Keepmoat replete with their “Big-Day-Out ballons” and acquired a first-half 2-0 lead, mainly on account of the first in what would become a series of atrocious displays of long range shot-stoppery by Ben “Doctor couldn’t explain it but I just stopped growing at 12 years old” Smith.

First Graeme Lee and then Jason Price hauled Rovers back into the match in the second half with two goals in as many minutes, which had most of the crowd of over 12,000 almost ready to explode. Had Jon Forte’s shot flew into the net instead of crashing against the crossbar shortly thereafter in all likelihood the roof would have come off the Keepmoat in a similar fashion to the roof of the by-now-abandoned Rovers Return bar next to our old stomping ground at Belle Vue - blowing into some unsuspecting Fiat Punto on Bawtry Road, probably.

It ended up two apiece, but what an awesome game. Fucking fantasic, even.

Better was to follow as our old chums from Rotherham were permitted collective day release to travel to the Keepmoat, having shed their two best players to Watford a week or so earlier for a total consideration of a million quid - any chance of ponying up to some of the debtors you ripped off, lads? One beating with a shitty stick later and they were off back down the M18 to their candle-lit hovels, left to ponder their impending and richly deserved relegation into the basement division.

Last but not least in a busy January, and immediately preceding the utterance of number 10 in “World’s most unlikely comments about football and that …” came the feast of goals that was the Norther Area Final 1st Leg of the FLT, away at Crewe. Oooh - we’re so close to the Millenium Stadium ! Read about the game (and the unlikely comment !) HERE.