THE GAME
When these sides met in the group stage of the competition a tepid match was won by Rovers scoring in the last minute.
This second meeting, in the knockout stage, was hugely entertaining and again won with a very late goal…trouble is it came from Plymouth Argyle.
Steve Evans named a strong side for the match but could only fill five places on the bench and he must have feared the worst when he saw his side fall behind after only two minutes.
Lorent Tolaj collected the ball in the middle of the park and as he advanced down the left he evaded Taylor Moore’s challenge and cut the ball back to Xavier Ameachi whose scuffed effort on goal reached Caleb Watts who comfortably beat Luke Southwood.
The goal sparked life into Rovers and they took the game to their opponents, which led to the equalising goal on 21 minutes. Jack Sparkes played the ball out to Fabrizio on the left and his low cross saw Shaq Forde knock the ball in from close range at the back post.
Cavegn then gave Rovers the lead with 39 minutes on the clock when he hit a shot past Luca Ashby-Hammond after being played in by Kamil Conteh.
Argyle’s Head Coach Tom Cleverley was sent off by referee Andrew Humphries after his protestations following the match official’s change of mind when awarding a free kick to Rovers after initially awarding it to Plymouth.
The visitors began the second half brightly and drew level within a minute of the restart when substitute Brendan Galloway volleyed a shot past Southwood following a corner.
Three minutes later Argyle were ahead after Caleb Watts played the ball out wide to Ronan Curtis whose cross was steered into the net by Tolaj.
However, Rovers rallied and drew level just after the hour mark after good work by Sparkes down the left. His pass found its way to Luke Thomas who fired past Ashby-Hammond from the edge of the box.
It continued to be an open game, with both sides creating, but not taking, chances and then, just when it seemed as though we were heading for a penalty shootout, Argyle scored the seventh goal of the evening in the fourth minute of time added on.
Receiving the ball on the halfway line Curtis advanced down the right and crossed into the area where Bim Pepple scored from close range, prompting huge celebrations in front of the Argyle fans.
In the aftermath, Rovers Head Coach Steve Evans was sent off meaning that neither he, or Cleverley, could undertake post match press duties.
WHAT WAS SAID
‘I think it was a game we didn’t really deserve to be on the losing side. That’s my initial response, my initial reaction to that. We need to defend better; that is my initial reaction in terms of conceding four goals at home. We shouldn’t be scoring three goals at home and getting knocked out in a cup tie, but that’s something we can work on. That’s something we desperately need to eradicate. That’s happened too many times, even since we walked in the door. So, we need to address that, and we are keeping hard on that side of the game, but a lot of pleasing aspects, a lot of pleasing aspects going forward, we looked a real threat. We looked like a goal threat with a number of opportunities other than the goals, so that’s the disappointment.
‘We at least deserved to go to penalties, and you know, Tom Cleverley’s got them playing some good stuff. They are a good side. You know, they have got a lot of Championship players in there, never mind the League One players, and he has got them playing well, and that’s a big disappointment, a big kick in the teeth, especially to lose it so late like that. The boys didn’t deserve that.
“He gets it wrong. Taylor Moore, at the end, gets it wrong, and you get punished. The better players you play against, you get punished, and as I say, you don’t need to you don’t need to hand Tolaj too many opportunities. You don’t need to give him a hand. He’s good enough as it is, and he proved that tonight. He was a handful all night, and you don’t need to give him chances. I had already spoken to Rhys Carr about who our penalty takers are, who are our better ones, and that was something that we were already thinking about, but you cannot defend like that and give them the winning goal, so that is a disappointment.’ Rovers Assistant Head Coach Paul Raynor
‘I feel like we had a good first half. I feel like we really took control of the game, and I feel like we came out in the second half and got caught cold again. We’ve just not been able to react fully to that. Obviously, we got the goal back from Luke Thomas, but we ended up losing. So, it’s not a great result at all, but I think there was a performance there to build on.
‘There were definitely positives to take from the game and things we can build on. We need to start really looking at putting in a full performance, so we don’t have to keep having to score loads of goals to beat teams, especially at home. I feel like there are definitely positives to take.
‘Fabrizio and I have a really good relationship both on and off the pitch. We both know each other and what we want to do, what we’re good at and where we’re going to be in positions. It’s definitely started to click in the final third. It’s good to start getting amongst the goals. It’s definitely feeling like it is starting to click, but hopefully we don’t have to concede so many and start getting three points.’ Rovers goalscorer Shaq Forde
‘Listen, he has made his decision. It seemed a bit bizarre to me, but it’s not an easy job being a referee is it? He (Cleverley) was disappointed in the decision. Tom’s passion and desire for the football club to be successful shows and everyone can see that. He was upset with the referee’s decision and we have to move on and accept what has happened.’ Plymouth Assistant Head Coach Kevin Nancekevill
