THE GAME
Rovers ended the calendar year 2025 with a whimper, going down 2-0 to a Barnet side that had beaten them by four clear goals just a matter of weeks ago.
Head Coach Steve Evans made just the one change to the side beaten by Bromley just a few days earlier, as Ruel Sotiriou replaced the suspended Shaq Forde.
The first half really was, by and large, evenly contested and the crowd in excess of 8,000 saw very few goalscoring opportunities created by either side. Joel Cotterill did manage to get the ball into the Barnet net, but was adjudged to have been offside and Sotiriou squandered a golden opportunity but contrived to lose his footing as the ball reached him in an unmarked position.
As for Barnet, Idris Kanu directed a header wide of target when well placed but then they managed to take a lead into half time when Mark Sheldon whipped in a free kick from out on the left and in the ensuing goalmouth scramble Adam Senior managed to nudge the ball over the line from close range.
At the start of the second half Luke Thomas tested goalkeeper Cieran Slicker who touched his effort round the post for a corner. Moments later the shot stopper smothered the ball at the feet of Fabrizio Cavegn before the striker could get his shot away.
The visitors were awarded a penalty on the hour mark when Ben Winterburn was brought down by Kamil Conteh, but Luke Southwood saved the resulting spot kick, taken by Mark Shelton.
Slicker then made two outstanding saves to deny Rovers an equaliser, firstly denying Alfie Kilgour when pushing his header from a Jack Sparkes free kick over the bar and then saving from Taylor Moore.
And then the inevitable happened; Barnet scored a second goal with just four minutes remaining when Ryan Glover hit a superb shot into the top left hand corner of Southwood’s goal. The misery goes on as that
goal sealed a seventh successive home defeat for Rovers.
Evans has a massive task ahead of him in the January transfer window; let’s hope he is able to bring in players who actually want to play for our club to replace those who, seemingly, are simply going through the motions at this moment in time.
WHAT WAS SAID
‘I think somewhere in the game, for the first 25 to 30 minutes, there was nothing in the game. It was scrappy. It’s a typical game that, you’d probably say, a mid table game if you like, with Barnet. They are, we’re not. We’re at the bottom end of the table, but it was that type of game. The game changes right on half time. We don’t win a simple free kick into a box. We don’t win the first contact. We’re nowhere near the second contact. So, we turned, we tried to change it a little bit, but Barnet started stronger than us; they had more penetration in the physical battle, and for me, we looked as if we lacked quality in both boxes. Luke saves a penalty, but if that’s a penalty, then I’m Donald Duck. I’m not Donald Duck; it was just simply an awful decision from the referee.
‘I’ve had a brilliant meeting with the owner today and a brilliant meeting with Ricky and all three of us. We know what we’re trying to do, we will do a lot of it, hopefully, and we’re speaking to people and meeting players and doing the right things. That’ll take care of itself in January, but now we need more from the players who have to show that they want to play for Bristol Rovers. I’m gobsmacked with the attendance today. I’ve walked out, and I’m saying that after Boxing Day, it was heartbreaking because we were playing so well for 54 minutes and then to see the fans turn up tonight and we let them down. It’s not a sob story, but we’ve just not been good enough tonight.
‘I certainly know that 2026 will be different for Bristol Rovers supporters, but it’s easier to just talk. I’m not going to promise anything that I can’t deliver, but we will make some changes in January, and we’ll affect it positively, and I think supporters, when we came in, we said the immediate task is now. The immediate challenge is to make sure we get some wins and to get away from this danger zone because this football club should be nowhere near it, but in football, you are where you are on the pitch.’ Rovers Head Coach Steve Evans
‘It was disappointing. I think we had a really good 60 minutes or so on Saturday that we were looking to build on, and we didn’t manage to do that. All the things that the gaffer arranged for us to do, we did not execute and that reflected in the result. It’s hard to put your finger on it, I think it was the intensity that we played with on Boxing Day that we didn’t seem to have today. The pressure we managed to put them under on Boxing Day, we just didn’t manage to do today.
‘Obviously, I was buzzing to save the penalty, and then we all know football, and that tends to be the catalyst sometimes for things to change in the game. I really thought we’d have a good chance to kick on and get something from the game and go on and win it, but it was obviously disappointing for it not to play out that way.
‘I think you saw so much of what the gaffer wants us to do on Boxing Day. I think that for those 60 minutes, that is exactly what he asks of us and what he wants us to be like with the intensity and the pressure, the understanding of what we’re doing and the confidence to get on the ball and play forward and run forward. I think it was all shown in that 60 minutes or so, and obviously, it’s just about consistently doing that and recreating it.’ Rovers goalkeeper Luke Southwood
