THE GAME
Well, it was a slightly improved performance and, had it not been for a very poor referee issuing a red card for what he thought he saw, then maybe Rovers would have come away from Chesterfield with a hard earned point.
Darrell Clarke’s side showed three changes from their last league outing, with Kacper Lopata, Ryan Howley and Ellis Harrison starting in place of Taylor Moore, Isaac Hutchinson and Fabrizio Cavegn.
There were few opportunities for either side early on but as the home side began to exert a little bit of pressure on the Rovers goal, Luke Southwood saved comfortably from Kyle McFazdean’s looping header.
In a rare Rovers attack, though, Promise Omochere should have given his side the lead. The striker took a pass from Ryan Howley but skewed his shot wide of the upright.
As half time approached Rovers were reduced to ten men following the red card brandished in Joel Senior’s direction. The defender was adjudged to have brought down Armando Dobra when it seemed that the Chesterfield man went to ground claiming that Senior had pushed him. A yellow card at best, but it was deemed red by referee Sam Mulhall.
There was still time for a Chesterfield goal when Duffy’s deep cross was headed into the net by Tom Naylor in spite of frantic attempts to keep it out by Ellis Harrison who had positioned himself on the goal line.
Half time substitutions saw Macauley Southam-Hales and Ruel Sotiriou replace Harrison and Lopata and, incredibly, the ten men pulled a goal back.
The home side failed to clear their lines from a corner and Alfie Kilgour hit a shot towards goal, which saw goalkeeper Zach Hemming palm the ball away as far as Isaac Hutchinson who took great delight in slamming the ball into the net from close range.
With Southwood repelling everything Chesterfield threw at him, it seemed that Rovers might earn their first point of the season, but two defensive lapses in the final ten minutes saw the home side take all three points.
McFazdean headed home, unmarked, following a corner on 86 minutes and three minutes later Dobra turned in Liam Mandeville’s low cross from close range.
WHAT THEY SAID
‘It’s a tough afternoon for us. I have to choose my words carefully so I don’t get myself in trouble. We started the first half and needed to make ourselves hard to beat against a good possession based team. They had one chance from a corner.
‘We had a great chance with Promise, and then the decision changed the dimensions of the game. From my perspective, it’s very, very, very soft. You can do all of your work and all of your stuff like that, but if it’s not going to be officiated properly, we’re in a bit of trouble.
‘I’m very angry with the group on how the equaliser was conceded because we get back in the game, and it’s a mentality thing to think that’s enough. It’s not enough. We should come away with a point. We have to defend. To concede a goal from a set piece is inexcusable. Then they score the third on the counter attack, but it’s a group that needs to learn quickly from those moments in games. The quicker we do that, the quicker we get the right mentality that I want at this Club.’ Rovers Head Coach Darrell Clarke
‘It’s tough to take. Going down to ten men was difficult, but we got better in the set piece moment and the other goal as well. We should stack it up and say, let’s just take the point and be hard to beat.
‘We started the game well and made it difficult for them. We probably didn’t have enough territory in their half, but we were hard to beat. The red card is never a red, let alone a foul. So, it’s disappointing, but we’ve got to move on now. When we got the goal, it gave us a little bit of belief, not that we didn’t have it already, but it’s just moments in games that can cost you, and that’s what’s happened today.
‘There’s not much else to say other than we need to be better in those moments, and we’ve got to bounce back now, that’s four defeats. The gaffer knows what he is doing, and he will get us there. Rovers defender Jack Sparkes
‘It’s a great way to come back after the disappointment of our Carabao Cup defeat on Tuesday so, hopefully, that win today and looking at the league table made the heartache of Tuesday a little bit easier to take.
‘It was a game of set pieces in terms of goals, but forget that part of the game, as we did create a lot of good stuff in open play. When they equalised, their support was excellent and they got behind them and you just felt the momentum shift, albeit briefly. We stood strong and defended well.’ Chesterfield Assistant Manager Danny Webb
