THE GAME
A 1-0 victory, secured thanks to a second half goal from Luke Thomas, ensured that Rovers will progress to the knockout stages of the Vertu Trophy with a game to spare.
The final group match between Darrell Clarke’s side and Plymouth Argyle will determine which of the two sides will top the group.
Clarke made eight changes to the side beaten by Walsall at the weekend and handed a senior debut to on loan Oxford United defender Stephan Negru. The Head Coach also included four Academy youngsters on the bench.
In a first half dominated by Rovers, it was surprising that the game remained goalless at the end of that opening period. There were early chances for Fabrizio Cavegn, two of which were saved by home goalkeeper Mamadou Diallo and one being blocked by defender Freddie Willcox.
The home side, forced to defend for long periods, failed to trouble Brad Young in Rovers’ goal.
Rovers made two changes at the start of the second period, replacing Negru and Cavegn with Dan Ellison and Ellis Harrison and the striker saw an early chance blocked by Lee Angol, while Ruel Sotiriou and Bryant Bilongo were blocked by Bakare.
The goal that Rovers had been threatening all night finally arrived on the hour mark. Former Rovers midfielder was caught in possession by Sotiriou who raced forward with the ball before finding Tomas who found the bottom left hand corner of the net with a superb 25 yard strike.
Goalscorer Thomas was substituted on 72 minutes, allowing Academy player Kian Hill the opportunity of making his senior debut for the club.
The goal seemed to galvanise the home side, who enjoyed their best moments of the game after conceding. Another former Rovers player, Ryan Broom, saw his cross drift just wide of the upright, while Pell headed straight at Young from a Harrison Sohna corner.
Rovers, though, who had looked comfortable all evening, deservedly won the tie to progress to the knockout stages.
‘We’re really pleased. As we said before the game, it’s a match we wanted to take seriously and I thought the lads applied themselves well. The intensity without the ball was brilliant, and there was pressure high up the pitch which is something that we want to do. They really put together the game plan that they wanted to do so we’re really pleased with the application and professionalism from the boys tonight.
‘We are delighted with the clean sheet and we’ve just said in the changing room that we’re delighted for Brad too. He’s a good goalkeeper who has had to rehab recently and, to be fair, there’s a tip of the hat to a few of our performance team because there’s a few lads who were out there tonight like Brad, Ryan Howley, Ruel Sotiriou, lads who have been out but have been pushed.
WHAT WAS SAID
‘Kian Hill has been here since he’s been a young lad. He’s done a lot of hard work in the shadows and with the U-18s, and we’ve got a good relationship with our Academy where the staff will always ask about who has played well for them over the weekends. Those opportunities in the first team must be earned but, if we can give them, we want to do so. Congratulations to Kian for tonight. It’s a big moment for him and his family, and I’m sure that’s given him a real taste for it as well.’ Rovers Assistant Head Coach Rhys Carr
I thought the lads that played all put in a really good performance. I thought our intensity was really good and with a better final ball a few times, we could have easily won that two or three-nil. I just think I need to be a little bit more selfish at times. I messed it up in the first half by trying to pass it to Fabrizio. I thought it was a really bad pass, to be fair, so I just needed to be confident. I took the shot, and I was probably lucky that it hit the post and went in. It looks like a really good finish.
‘So, that’s a positive, and I am only 12 or 13 games in or something like that. So, I need to be braver, whether that’s with a pass or whether I’m shooting, I need to make my mind up and just go with it. I thought we made hard work of it. I thought the lads that played all put in a really good performance and I thought our intensity was really good.
‘We all probably had a bad start, and we all know we could have improved massively. I think we have improved a lot over the last few games, but personally, I’m still miles off it and as a team we believe we are as well because we should be a lot higher in the table. Hopefully, we can get back to winning ways on Saturday and go on another unbeaten run.’ Rovers goalscorer Luke Thomas
‘I’m chuffed to bits with the lads, if you think about how many minutes those boys out there have had this season. There’s lots of things to improve on, there’s lots of things to work on but I thought they were great. We were just a little bit short tonight against a very good Bristol Rovers team. Cheltenham Town Manager Steve Cotterill
