THE MATCH
It was a game that Rovers simply couldn’t afford to lose and, but after making the perfect start with two goals inside the opening seven minutes they were pegged back for much of the first half by a slick Grimsby side who pulled a goal back before the break.
There were concerns, at half time, that they might have blown their chance of winning the match, but they managed the second half superbly well and scored a third goal to clinch all three points.
The starting XI named by Steve Evans showed four changes to the side beaten at Oldham in midweek. In came Ryan de Havilland, Clinton Mola, Yusuf Akhamrich and Ellis Harrison, while out went Tom Lockyer, Luke Thomas, Tommy leigh and Fabrizio Cavegn.
Rovers made a stunning start to the match and were ahead inside two minutes. A free kick deep into the Grimsby area was headed away by Reece Staunton straight to Kofi Balmer who lashed a right foot volley into the net from 20 yards out.
Five minutes later the lead was doubled when, following a clearance by goalkeeper Brad Young, the ball was played out to Yusuf Akhamrich wide on the left. He shaped to shoot but then rolled a pass into Joe Quigley who calmly finished from close range.
A shell shocked Grimsby slowly began to respond and might have pulled a goal back when a cross from Charles Vernam beat Young but came back into play off the far post and was cleared.
The same played was denied by a fine save from Young before the visitors reduced the deficit. Vernam’s low cross from the left found Andy Cook in the box and he somehow managed to turn, although being closely marked, and fire home from close range.
The half ended with Grimsby in the ascendancy and with Young making a crucial save from Jamie Walker.
Rovers began the second half strongly and restored their two goal lead on 63 minutes when Quigley beat Sam Lavelle out on the left and pulled the ball back for Kane Thompson-Sommers who found Akhamrich and he curled a shot into the bottom corner of the net.
There could, and should, have been more goals for Evans’ side and Promise Omochere might even have had a hat trick after arriving as a 66th minute substitute for Quigley.
The striker should have buried a header from a cross by fellow substitute Luke Thomas and stabbed two gilt edged opportunities wide of the mark in the closing stages.
Grimsby were well marshalled by Rovers in the second period though had it not been for a fingertip save by Young, from Cook’s downward header they would have scored their second goal of the afternoon.
It’s only one win, and there are still 13 games of this dreadful season to go, but if Rovers can put in performances like this, especially at home, then they should start to pull away from the bottom of the table. However, taking as many points as possible from their six remaining home games will be crucial.
WHAT WAS SAID
‘We knew we had to produce a big performance and full credit goes to the players, probably four or five of those lads went onto the pitch carrying knocks from Oldham Athletic. We spoke about the desire, and that was never better emphasised than by my grandson Joseph, who was one of the mascots today, and Karter who is the son of a member of the team here at Bristol Rovers. They were all nervous in the tunnel saying ‘the Gas have got to win’ and that was echoing what the players had been saying in the week. And, of course, we’ll never win a game here without our twelfth man, our fantastic supporters. They were incredible today.
‘People said Kofi Balmer could only do it once, but Kofi is a very talented boy. And when he does things quickly without overthinking them, he’s an even better player. We’re trying to get that into him and when that ball is falling to him, I’m thinking ‘Kofi don’t even think about it!’ But he found the net and he’s such a good professional and I’m really pleased for him.
‘The second one is really good play. We worked on it in training with the ball up to Quigley and Harrison, and Yusuf goes and finds himself some space and freedom. People will say that’s a shot from Yusuf but he’s picked Joe out in the box like he did in training five or six times. Joe was immense today, as was Ellis too, but I don’t think we had a poor player on the pitch today. We controlled long aspects and I think our supporters will wonder how we didn’t score six or seven today.’ Rovers Head Coach Steve Evans
I think it’s just becoming a habit now, but I think it was similar to the last one the ball was hit over my head and then, I’m a defender I know myself that you’re not going to get much power on it, so I’ve just held back and same again, on the right foot this time, I just struck it nicely and it’s found the back of the net, so it was good. I think this time I was more worried about actually celebrating this time. I think before the ball even went in, I had turned round and started celebrating.
‘That was obviously a good win. After Oldham’s performance, we showed what we can do; we just didn’t have the finishing touch in the final third. I think today we showed that if we keep it going, putting performances in and taking our chances, we can beat anyone on our day. I think we started the game very well and got our two goals. After that, we sat back and maybe showed them a little too much respect at points, but at the end of the day, we held out into half time. We said at half-time we needed to go back out and start putting them under pressure, and I think we did that well. Thankfully, we got the third goal and held out from there.”
We need to make The Mem our fortress. When teams come here, we can’t make it easy for them. Even when we go away, we can’t make it easy for anyone. But to get the win here, in front of all the fans, was brilliant because I think we really needed it, as a team and for the fans as well. They travel in their numbers, they come to every game, and that’s what they deserve, so we need to keep going.’ Rovers goalscorer Kofi Balmer
We played well for half an hour in a 100-minute game. We handed them the two easiest goals they’ll probably score all season and gave a struggling team exactly the lift we’d spoken about denying them. We didn’t do our jobs from a free kick and then conceded a ridiculously poor second goal – completely unlike us. If you don’t approach a game with the right mentality, you get what you deserve. This is League Two; there are no poor teams.
‘In the end, we got what we deserved. We didn’t play well at all in the second half because we didn’t progress the ball. You can keep it across the back as much as you like, but you have to move it forward and create chances like we did in the first half. We didn’t do that and it’s bitterly disappointing. Three of those goals in these last two games have been set pieces, which on one hand is a good thing, we’d rather not concede obviously but at least the problems are easily identifiable.
‘It was the same marker on Wednesday and in this instance, one lad doesn’t do his job and their lad volleys it in from the edge of the box, and it’s as simple as that. I said to the team that if you don’t do your jobs from set pieces you run the risk of being exposed and that is what happened in the first minute. We didn’t do well for their second either, we dominated the first half after that but if you give the other team a two goal headstart the crowd will get behind them here and we gave them all the incentive they needed with such a poor start. We were always chasing the game from that point.’ Grimsby boss David Artell
