THE GAME
Rovers continued their unbeaten run with a comfortable victory at Barrow, in monsoon like conditions, thanks to goals from Tommy Leigh and Fabrizio Cavegn.
Those two, along with Ryan De Havilland, had replaced Kane Thompson-Sommers, Ellis Harrison and Yusuf Akhamrich at the start of the second half in last Saturday’s match against Crewe Alexandra, and kept their place in the starting XI for this match.
In a strong wind and in driving rain, Rovers faced some early pressure from the home side and Brad Young was called into action early on when he misjudged a ball into the area, though the home strikers were too slow to capitalise and the keeper gathered the ball at the second attempt.
That was as good as it got for Barrow as Rovers quickly asserted themselves as the dominant side and Alfie Kilgour saw his header, from a Jack Sparkes cross, pushed away by keeper Wyll Stanway who, only a few weeks ago, was the subject of interest from Steve Evans.
With Rovers enjoying so much possession, it came as little surprise when they took the lead with 27 minutes on the clock. The home side cleared Richie Smallwood’s free kick as far as Sparkes following and the defender lofted the ball back into the area where Leigh who saw his shot hit the post before entering the net for his third goal in two games.
It might have been two minutes later, but Stanway came to Barrow’s rescue when he saved from Senior and then saw his defenders repel efforts from Joe Quigley, Cavegn and De Havilland as Rovers threatened to score at will.
With the wind at their backs, Rovers should have established a comfortable half time lead against a side lacking in confidence and short on firepower, although they did rally slightly in time added on when Josh Gordon and Angus MacDonald saw shots blocked.
The start of the second half saw Rovers carry on where they had left off at the end of the first and Joel Senior fired over the bar following good work by Leigh and De Havilland.
Barrow did go close following a counter attack on 53 minutes, but Young saved comfortably from Lewis Shipley’s 25 yard shot on the turn. Three minutes later Rovers doubled their lead after Senior broke down the right and drove into the area before finding the unmarked Cavegn who slotted the ball home from close range.
Danny Rose headed wide in another rare excursion into Rovers territory by the home side, but Rovers remained the dominant side and really didn’t seem in any danger of conceding. Cavegn saw another goal attempt saved by Stanway and as the game drew to a close Young was twice called into action, touching the ball over the bar from Rose and then making a routine save from Walker.
This was another resolute and determined performance by Rovers who registered their third win in four games and climbed another place towards safety. There can be no cause for complacency, though and there can be no slip ups over the course of the next few games that sees them face league leaders Bromley, Shrewsbury Town and Gillingham.
‘The first thing we’ll remember it for is the conditions. You know, farcical at times, but perfectly playable. In fairness to the ground staff at Barrow, the pitch is in superb condition. In terms of the game, I think we’ve won comfortably. We missed a number of chances before we got the second goal to go two nil, maybe three nil. We controlled possession, we played very on purpose, and it was a credit to the players, and really what I reflect on is Barrow nil, Bristol Rovers two, Bristol Rovers supporters five.
‘You know, to turn up here in their numbers and they’ve turned up tonight and got behind the team, and you heard them singing through the contest, and they’ve got the driving rain and sleet and everything into their faces. But no, a real competent performance in which we had a number of players who were very good.
‘Considering the chances we missed, you’re always thinking at the other end. Like the boy struck down one wide, didn’t he? He’s put one down Brad’s face, and Brad deals with it comfortably, but when we’re missing chances, big golden chances, you’re thinking, ‘is the second one going to come?’ In fairness, it’s just brilliant play with Joel Senior. Brilliant play. But I thought he was superb all night. I thought we had a number of players [that were superb]. Is there a better player in this division in central midfield as a six than Smallwood? I’m yet to see them. He controlled the middle, and he bossed it around. My final thoughts are Happy Birthday, Chairman, Happy Birthday.’ Rovers Head Coach Steve Evans
‘Firstly, I want to thank all the fans, to be honest. Unbelievable support. On a Tuesday night, with terrible weather, a lot of them have had to take a couple of days off work. I know we saw some fans at the hotel, so that one is for them. It’s exactly what they needed, what we needed. We look forward to the weekend now because it’s another big game. You want to finish this season as strong as possible, but that one was for them.
‘I just put it in a good area and then obviously a fantastic finish from Tommy. I really enjoyed today. Obviously, I’ve gone forward a lot. I’m always better going forward, and when we’ve got a lot of the ball like we did today, it really suits me.
‘Joel did some good work on the right hand side, and then obviously Fabrizio does what he does best, being at the right place at the right time. I’m happy for him, because obviously he hasn’t been playing the last couple of games. He’s given the manager a thought now for the next game. We spoke about the momentum before the game. Use this game as a stepping stone and try to get a little bit of momentum out of the last couple of weeks. Obviously, a big game now on Saturday. The table might look good at the moment, but until we’re mathematically safe, I think we’ve still got to be on it. We can’t take a step back now, because that will undo all of the hard work we’ve done.’ Rovers defender Jack Sparkes
‘It was disappointing. We didn’t start the game well and conditions made it difficult in the first half. Playing into the wind made it difficult to get forward and to get the ball down and play. We put ourselves under pressure with poor clearances and we conceded a number of corners so we had to do a lot of defending and never really got going.
‘We changed things at half time and tried to match them and to get closer to them and compete with them all over the park. We conceded a second goal at a tough time. We did begin applying some pressure in the last 20/25 minutes but, overall, we weren’t good enough and we let our fans down.’ Barrow Boss Dino Maamria who, less than 24 hours later, was their former boss!
