THE GAME
Rovers suffered a home defeat at the hands of Blackpool on a wet and cold night at the Memorial Stadium and in doing so failed to build on their win at Mansfield at the weekend.
Manager Matt Taylor made just one change to his starting XI for this game, bringing in Bryant Bilongo at the expense of Clinton Mola, who was named among the substitutes.
As has been the case in a number of games this season, Rovers began brightly but quickly faded! Those early exchanges saw Luke McCormick, Chris Martin and Isaac Hutchinson prominent in attack, though the only attempt on goals, in which Martin’s effort struck the post wouldn’t have counted anyway as he was in an offside position.
At the other end, on 21 minutes, Josh Griffiths made an outstanding save from Dom Ballard’s close range effort as the visitors began to assert themselves on the game. The opening goal came on 27 minutes after James Wilson was ruled to have fouled Kyle Joseph on the edge of the area. It looked a pretty innocuous challenge from the stands, but the Blackpool man received lengthy treatment before the free kick could be taken.
Elliot Embleton fired the free kick across goal and somehow the ball ended up in the back of the net. Initially it was thought that Ballard had netted, but it was later credited as an own goal by Bilongo. Not a very exciting, or entertaining first half, it must be said!
McCormick headed way over two minutes into the second half but minutes later Griffiths came to Rovers’ rescue when he kept out a shot from Rob Apter. The keeper could only palm the shot away and the loose ball was collected by Lee Evans whose rasping drive hit James Wilson on the arm. The outcome was a penalty, which was ruthlessly despatched into the top corner of the net by Evans.
It would be nice to report that there was a response from Rovers but, sadly, there wasn’t and Blackpool looked more than capable of scoring a third goal. Nothing much really happened after that second goal as Blackpool looked comfortable in possession comfortably held out for victory. As for Rovers, well in spite of registering a total of seven shots, not one of them was on target.
The five substitutions made by the manager had no impact on the outcome, the atmosphere was flat and at the moment it seems to be one step forward, two steps back for Matt Taylor’s side.
THEY SAID WHAT?
‘In the first half I thought we started the game well again. There were some bright moments with no real creation and we’ve not made their goalkeeper work or their centre halves underneath the bar. The first goal was a strange one and we don’t know if it’s an own goal or one from a Blackpool player but all of a sudden the ball was in the back of the net.
‘It felt like the pitch was too big for us tonight. It didn’t feel like the ball went through us, which is strange considering the shape we’re playing and the personnel we’ve got. I think we’re capable of more.You do take into account what the weekend brought and the big effort from that, but that’s the nature of the league and we have to find a way of still getting energy in the right areas on a Tuesday night after a big effort at the weekend.
‘Judging by tonight we might need to freshen the team up for the FA Cup tie against Barnsley on Saturday. We have to find a way of getting a bit more energy into the starting lineup and also making certain moments in the game count.’ (Rovers manager Matt Taylor)
‘We had a little bit of belief in ourselves going into the game off the back of good draws and the win away at Mansfield, with a really good team spirit. I think we let ourselves down tonight in many ways. Conceding off a set piece is obviously a bit unlike us at the moment. We’ve worked so hard on making that right, so to concede a goal and go 1-0 down like that is disappointing. the penalty in the second half was very harsh, I thought.
‘We just lacked the belief in ourselves after the second goal went in to actually come back and make a real game of it. Unfortuntely, we probably made Blackpool look a better team than they are tonight, and we didn’t really deserve to come away with anything from the game.
‘We can’t say that playing two games in such a short space of time took its toll; there’s no excuse as we are professional athletes and used to situations like this. Blackpool played away at Bolton at the weekend and had to travel down to Bristol for the game so there are no excuses. We should be able to put in better performances than we did. As players we are accountable.’ (Rovers defender Taylor Moore)
‘I’m pleased for the players as they have been working hard and haven’t quite got the rewards. We’ve been punished in the last minute of games. In the first 15 minutes we had to batten down the hatches a little bit. Once we scored that little bit of confidence came back and you could see everyone was enjoying it. I thought we were well worth the win. It’s been a tough few weeks for everyone concerned but we are back on track again.
‘Fair play to our supporters to come this far to support their team on a horrible night like tonight. Well done; I don’t think many of them will be at work tomorrow but fair play to them. That’s what football is all about, the supporters. It took hours to get here and it will take hours to get home. Thankfully we’ve given them a victory to shout about, which is good.’ (Blackpool manager Steve Bruce)
