Another two goals, another clean sheet and another three points took Rovers to the top of the league after four games of this fledgling season.
Steve Evans saw his side produce another dominant performance against a very good Colchester United side that flattered to deceive but lacked a cutting edge to their play and when they did manage to break through, they were thwarted by a very determined and well organised home defence.
The manager saw no need to change his starting XI or his bench for this match and his side were quickly out of the starting blocks as Bobby Kamwa was thwarted by goalkeeper Thimothee Lo-Tutala and the striker saw another effort blocked shortly afterwards.
Tommy Leigh fired a shot over the bar as Rovers continued to press and, on 27 minutes, they found the goal they had been searching for. A ball into the box was headed clear by Paul Digby and fell to Tom James who struck a sweet left foot volley into the net to claim his second Rovers goal in a matter of days, having netted at Crawley four days earlier.
The visitors were denied a goal minutes later when Ellis Iandolo headed in, but his strike was chalked off after referee Alex Chilowicz had spotted an infringement in the area and awarded Rovers a free kick.
Richie Smallwood almost added a second Rovers goal just before the break, but his thundering volley forced a n excellent save from Lo-Tutala. Two minutes before the half time whistle Rovers lost influential central defender Kofi Balmer who was the victim of a leg breaking challenge which left him in agony. From the stands it looked a red card offence but the Colchester player got off the hook without even a yellow card.
Ciaran Kelly made his Rovers league debut after Balmer hobbled off down the tunnel and slotted seamlessly into the back line.
Two half time substitutions by Colchester boss Danny Cowley livened his side up and both Kane Vincent-Young and Moses Sesay showed up well in the early stages of the second half.
After Fabrizio Cavegn had forced a comfortable save from Lo-Tutala, Sesay hit a shot just wide of the upright while another piledriver from Smallwood, at the other end, was cleared off the line.
Brad Young made a fine save to deny Sesay an equaliser, but it was a Rovers substitute, Ellis Harrison, who had the final say in an excellent match.
After entering the fray in the 66th minute, the Rovers striker came alive in the closing stages. In the first minute of added time he slammed a cross from Leigh into the net, but his effort was ruled out by the offside flag.
He wasn’t to be denied, though, and two minutes later on the occasion of his 101st league substitute appearance for the club he again converted a cross from Leigh. This time it counted and all, apart from the 225 Colchester fans, went home celebrating being top of the league, at least for the time being!
WHAT WAS SAID
‘It was a dominant performance for sure. In my opinion, this is a game that was a step up in class and opposition from Crawley, and I think the thing about Crawley is it’s really hard to go to the Broadfield and produce that type of performance. I’ve been there many times both as their manager and against them. With Colchester, they came into this game with two wins and a draw, all deserved, and I think even the game they drew they should win. We knew it would be hard.
‘The two things that have pleased me as well are the two clean sheets. Clean sheet at Crawley against a side that attacks very well at home, and a clean sheet tonight when you’re facing the Jack Paynes and Harry Andersons. I tried to sign Jack a few times. Harry Anderson played for me. Sean Raggett coming up from set plays—he’s a big warrior.
‘That was a real comprehensive performance, but we don’t get carried away. It’s now about saying to our supporters: you start to dream a little bit. They can dream. The dreaming doesn’t happen for us. We go to bed tonight, get up, and get ready again tomorrow to prepare for Rotherham on Saturday.’ Rovers Manager Steve Evans
‘It was good. It wasn’t pretty at times, but I think that’s going to be quite common this season, grinding out results and wins. I think clean sheets are massive. If we can keep that as a bit of momentum into the next game, then that’s a good thing.”
‘As for my goal the ball just fell really nice. I thought if I keep the ball down, I’ve got half a chance, and it squirmed it into the back of the net, so happy days. I didn’t actually see it go in. I just heard the fans go wild. So yeah, really happy to do that. I like to think that I can be a threat, whether that’s shooting from range or picking passes throughout the pitch. The more I do that, the better it is for Rovers. It was amazing to see so many turn up today. It’s obviously not easy on a Tuesday night, but yeah, big thanks to them.”
‘It probably got a bit nervy. We probably made it a bit harder for ourselves, or harder than we should have at least. We need to be a bit more clinical around their box. But again, two‑nil is a good result.”
‘I thought Ciaran Kelly was brilliant, absolutely brilliant. It’s not easy to come on at any time for a defender or centre back, but I think he slipped into the back four like he’d been there all season. So that’s great competition to have. Well done to him as well.’ Rovers goalscorer Tom Evans
I thought it was a great game, a brilliant game for League Two. I have a lot of respect for Bristol Rovers. I think if you finish above them, you’ll have a very good season. It’s a great place to play football on a Tuesday night and I thought their crowd were right behind them and it made for a great atmosphere. We enjoyed the game. We were probably a little bit disappointed with how we played in the first half. I think we’ve all got to go away and look at ourselves in the mirror and not out of the window for that first half performance because we didn’t quite play to the levels that we think we’re capable of.
‘I really liked us in the second half. I thought we played with courage and belief and a load of personality. We took a really good team at their home right to the very end. The half time changes were just tactical really. They play in a very direct, powerful way. They have a long throw come in from everywhere so we wanted to be aerially dominant.
The game obviously changed a minute before half time when their centre half came off injured and he’s a boy with a long throw, so that meant that changed. They went from being a heavyweight boxer to something different so it maybe allowed us to flex and I thought we did that well. We have two different formations. I thought Kane came on and was excellent and gave us some real good energy and athleticism and Hunty went into midfield and was great in there and Moses Sesay came on and did so well.’ Colchester Boss Danny Cowley
