The saying that “A week is a long time in politics...” has long been attributed to Harold Wilson, the Huddersfield Town-supporting former PM. There are some who dispute he said it but either way, what is clearly true, is that four days can be a long time in football.

Ahead of the season curtain raiser with Derby County on the 9th of August, there were many Rovers fans, myself included, fearing what might be about to unfold.

A squad rapidly assembled, with new signings turning up at the beginning of August like Amazon parcels after Black Friday, had raised hopes if not necessarily expectations; but at least we could field a full squad without the need for permission slips from players’ parents.

What unfolded over the first half was a very pleasant watch indeed as this embryonic team imposed themselves over a newly promoted opponent who fancied their chances of “doing an Ipswich” as we must now call it. Rovers’ new boy up top, the enigmatic Makhtar Gueye, caught the eye immediately with some lively runs, a beaming smile and the enthusiasm of a golden retriever puppy being taken for its first walk of the day.

The second half, however, began in a different mood as a clearly chastened Derby were out to make amends quickly. Pressure built and the inevitable equaliser duly arrived halfway through the second half very shortly after John Eustace had reacted to the warning signs with three substitutes barely a minute or two beforehand. This was to be the acid test. How would this side react to such impertinence?

Well, the answer was uplifting, to put it mildly. A run by Hayden Carter, worthy of Beckenbauer, Maldini or Hendry, resulted in two Derby players being dummied so effectively they ended up watching the ensuing goal from the Blackburn End. That set up new boy...(boy?...he’s 33 isn’t he ?) Weimann to score. Next up the Ipswich-bound Sam Szmodics and the icing on the cake from our Japanese signing Yuki Ohashi. A finish so delicate and beautifully executed that if you included it in Matt Jansen’s showreel, few would notice.

But what to make of all this? A side capable of attacking with flourish, but also conceding two from set pieces. A team that dominated large swathes of play only to sit back once again on a single-goal lead. Curate’s egg is clearly, a work in progress but a fine start to the campaign.

Onwards to Tuesday. A return to Edgeley Park, the scene of a pre-season friendly, an opponent with massive injury problems looked like they might be a lamb to the slaughter. Whilst the result wasn’t quite as emphatic as last season’s visit to Harrogate, it is always nice to win, to score goals, to see new players settling in and to see that Szmodics is still operating out of East Lancashire, even if that proved to be short-lived.

At one point the game was halted for an injury stoppage and given the average age of the Stockport team, you could have been forgiven for thinking they’d realised they still needed to finish their homework...

The Stockport keeper, Ben Hinchliffe, something of a cult hero in Edgeley, was their Player Of The Match as well, so it was definitely more of a fitness exercise with all jeopardy removed as early as the 25th minute as Szmodics – him again – notched his third of this season. Rovers took the set and the match 6-1, holding serve throughout.

Where does all this leave Rovers? Nowhere near as desperate as it looked when FC Nürnberg defeated Rovers 2-1 twice in an afternoon back in July. The new signings that have come in have excited the fans, especially Ohashi & Gueye. Ohashi seems to have slotted in quite nicely so far, albeit caution is required with much stronger opponents on the horizon. Gueye seems to have graduated from the Elliott Bennett School Of Crowd Manipulation with a double first if early signs of full-time flourishes are a sign of what’s to come.

Let’s hope so, because there are few things more satisfying than being the unlikely underdog and bloodying a few noses along the way. The window is still open; Eustace wants “three or four more”, Rudy says “two or three” – for what it’s worth, I’m with John.