THE GAME
Defeat at the hands of Exeter City ensured that Rovers would finish bottom of Group G in this year’s Bristol Street Motors Trophy, while Exeter will progress as group winners and they will be accompanied by either Swindon Town or Tottenham Hotspur.
Not surprisingly, both sides made a number of changes for this tie; there were nine for the visitors, though it didn’t appear to affect them as they took the lead on 19 minutes when former Rovers player Mustapha Carayol scampered down the left and crossed into the box where Jay Bird was on hand to net from close range.
Rovers were back on level terms just after the half hour mark when Connor Taylor slotted the ball home following a low cross from the left by Luke Thomas.
The visitors took the lead again four minutes into the second half when substitute Milli Alli took advantage of a slip by Taylor and fired a shot past Josh Griffiths.
Undeterred, Rovers hit back and scored their second equaliser of the night. Issac Hutchinson was on target on this occasion, hitting a left foot shot from the left of the box into the top corner of the net.
It seemed as though Rovers second home tie of the competition would end the way the first one had, in a penalty shootout. However, Exeter had other ideas and with just two minutes of the 90 remaining Demitri Mitchell scored the winning goal from close range.
THEY SAID WHAT?
‘It was a strange first hour, as we gave them two goals. We worked so hard to get back in the game on both occasions. Their goals aren’t freak goals but mistakes, and big mistakes, from ourselves.
‘There wasn’t enough rhythm really, from start to finish, in terms of where the players needed to be in order to get more out of the game. But we know how those moments and, ultimately, those goals affect us personality and character wise. It also puts more pressure on our game.
‘It was a massive boost to have Chris Martin back. We only really found out at the weekend that he could play that amount of game time. With where his running is, we felt we could get 45 minutes out of him.’ (Rovers manager Matt Taylor)
‘The result is really disappointing, and the performance was a bit disappointing too. With the group of players we had out there we definitely could have put on a better display.
‘It is tough, but we should be performing better as a team and putting on a better display out there for ourselves. I think it’s been a really disappointing Bristol Street Motors campaign for us with only getting one point on the board.
‘It was really good to get more minutes under my belt. It’s been a long time since I’ve had minutes, so I was really happy knowing that I was starting the game tonight. I just tried to give everything I had out there, to be really aggressive and keep it simple, but I’ll just try and build on the performance.’ (Rovers defender Michael Forbes)
‘Tonight was about a group of individuals showing what they are about, and it went how we had hoped. Individual players got to do their things and young players got to experience what was a fairly strong Bristol Rovers team and got to see the level.
‘They got to see where they need to get to. At the end, it was great to see Demi (Mitchell) and Vinnie (Harper) coming on, and a special shout out to Demi for getting the goal – it felt written in the stars.
‘Every one of us is really pleased for him.’ (Exeter Assistant Manager Kevin Nicholson)