THE GAME
After falling behind early on, Rovers conjured up a second half equaliser only to conceded twice more in quick succession to fall to a sixth consecutive league defeat.
Darrell Clarke made three changes to his starting lineup, bringing in Bradley Young for Luke Southwood, who was away on international duty and Kamil Conteh and Ellis Harrison in place of Joel Cotterill and Ruel Sotiriou respectively.
Rovers fell behind as early as the sixth minute when Shaun Whalley sent in a low cross from the right and Isaac Heath comfortably beat Young from close range.
Shaq Forde fired a shot over the bar as Rovers looked to get back on level terms while an Alfie Chang effort was cleared off the line by Devon Matthews before Macauley Southam-Hales saw his shot clear the crossbar.
Sotiriou replaced Bryant Bilongo at the start of the second half and Clarke’s side began the second period brightly and it came as no surprise when they drew level just before the hour mark, though the fact that it was Conteh on the scoresheet was a little bit of a shock!
The midfielder, who scored his first Gas goal in the midweek Vertu Trophy tie against Plymouth Argyle, netted his first league goal for the club with a stunning shot from just outside the area.
However, the goal didn’t prove to be the launch pad for a first ever away win against Accrington, who went on to gain the upper hand with two goals in the space of five minutes to seal victory.
A 72nd minute corner from the left, taken by heath, was flicked on to Farred Rawson at the back post and he fired a shot beyond the reach of Young.
Substitute Paddy Madden was denied a goal on 77 minutes by a fine save from Young, who could only push the ball out as far as Isaac Sinclair who fired a low shot into the net.
The disappointing thing, from Rovers point of view, was the awful defending that allowed the home side to restore their lead and the fact that there was little, or no response from Clarke’s side will have concerned the Head Coach as he ponders his side’s next game against Cheltenham Town, another of his former clubs.
WHAT WAS SAID
‘We’re never going to win games the way we are conceding goals at the minute, if I am honest with you. You can understand it at times if we’re conceding goals because we’re sustaining loads of attacks and we’re under the cosh, but for me, we just look soft. We look like a really soft team, and we’re struggling in both [final] thirds of the pitch. We can’t use the excuse of unavailability today. We can’t use any excuses; we’ve got to be miles better. I’ve got to be miles better; that accountability goes with me. To lose the number of games we’ve lost consecutively is not acceptable.
‘It is not acceptable. I look at players in there, go in there, hammer them. They are getting dogs abuse when the players are coming off the pitch, but they’ve got to understand that we can’t be soft. We’ve got to be stronger, and to do that, we need more consistency from players to be stronger because we look like a soft touch at the minute.
‘For me, it’s in both ends. I think you’re looking for consistency. We’ve got to look after Ellis today, he’s back. Promise Omochere is still out for a few more weeks, and you’re looking for consistency. The best thing to do is try and stick with consistency, but I’ve not had opportunities to do that. But that’s making excuses for the players because we should have enough in the group to be able to come here and win the game. We gave the three points away.’ Rovers Head Coach Darrell Clarke
‘The first goal kind of set the tone for the rest of the game. We never really recovered from it. We did well, we got the goal back and then literally after that, it’s just the
moments, and it’s the moments that are not going our way right now. We need to do better because coming here and losing 3-1 is not good enough. It is disappointing. We were soft all over the pitch today, and it’s three poor goals that we conceded. It’s not good.
‘We did well to get back in it. It was a good strike from Kam, and then it’s the moments again. We’ve just got to keep it at 1-1 and stay in the game, but we go and concede. It’s a bad set piece, and the third one is another bad one as well. To be honest, it never really felt like they had that much in the game, like clear cut. We were just soft today and it’s three avoidable goals that has cost us.”
‘We as lads have got to pull our finger out and have got to start picking up points. We’ve been here before when we had that run. We’ve just got to get a win, and we can only look to next week. We have to do that and go and try to win.’ Rovers defender Clinton Mola
‘You come up against different tests. Other teams would probably just put the ball in the box for seven minutes. I think Bristol Rovers just carried on doing what they do – their philosophy in terms of trying to pass it and trying to get it wide and maybe cross it then higher up the pitch, but we stood up to it.
‘The subs have come and had an impact – Joe Bauress, he’s got qualities – you’ve got Seamus Conneely coming on, Charlie Caton with what skillset he’s got and he’s good in the air, so I think to manage it and control it for those seven minutes was good for the lads.’ Accrington Stanley Manager John Doolan
