A poor showing against Grimsby Town at Blundell Park saw Rovers fail to score for the first time this season.
Defeat, after conceding two first half goals, saw them knocked off of top spot in the table by Barnet who were home winners against Accrington Stanley.
Manager Steve Evans opted to name an unchanged side for the fourth successive game, though there was a change on the bench where Ciaran Kelly came in for Alfie Kilgour.
He saw his side begin the game well, with Clinton Mola seeing his early header from a Tom James cross was comfortably cleared. Bobby Kamwa saw his low cross blocked by Jayden Sweeney while Mola saw a 20 yard shot deflected behind for a corner.
At the other end Andy Cook saw his header pass wide of the target after a poor clearance by Riley Harbottle while Kieran Green’s header from a Charles Vernam free kick flew just over the bar.
Vernam then tried his luck with a curling 25 yard shot that saw Brad Young dive to push the ball behind for a corner.
The hosts were growing into the game in the difficult, blustery conditions, and took the lead on 22 minutes. A long ball forward from goalkeeper David Harrington was flicked on by Cook into the path of Green who evaded a challenge from Harbottle and slid the ball past Young who had come off his line in an attempt to clear the danger.
Harbottle slipped, and was injured, as Green sped past him and was stretchered off the pitch and he was replaced by Kelly.
The goal began a period of Grimsby dominance, with Rovers offering very little in the way of an attacking threat, and a second goal arrived five minutes before the break in stunning fashion. Geza David Turi received the ball some 40 yards from goal and advanced into the space in front of him before unleashing an unstoppable shot that gave Young no chance of saving.
Evans rang the changes for the start of the second half, making a triple substitution that saw Ellis Harrison, Joe Quigley and Jack Aitchison replace Fabrizio Cavegn, Bobby Kamwa and Shaq Forde respectively.
However, Rovers struggled to make any impact on the game and there was little, or no, service to Harrison and Quigley. Grimsby might have extended their lead as Vernam dragged a shot wide of the upright and Cook just failed to get on the end of a Sonny Finch cross.
Things got worse for Rovers as they were reduced to ten men on 74 minutes when Tommy Leigh saw red after an off the ball altercation with Mark Shelton and the hosts comfortably held on to their lead until the final whistle.
It was a disappointing performance from Rovers who have now won four and lost two of their opening six games and it is to be hoped that it’s just a blip and they will return to form in their next game, away at Gillingham.
WHAT WAS SAID
‘It was a tough watch. We were second best all over the pitch for long periods. The first goal was simple. It was as basic a goal as they could score. It’s just a simple long ball up to Cook, a flick on, and Riley Harbottle should just clear his lines. The second goal was a fantastic goal from the player’s point of view, but we’ve got no one. He’s probably travelled 25 yards with the ball before he strikes it, which is unacceptable.
‘Second half, we just tried to go with more physicality, more of a presence, because we had zero in the first half. That didn’t work either because our quality up to those two was poor. Then, when you’re always hoping for a goal because these [Grimsby] will get butterflies because they have conceded when they have been two ahead on a couple of occasions this season.
‘Look at the Crawley performance; I think Crawley were as good at home as Grimsby are, and the statistics probably back that up. I will watch it back this evening, and I’ll pick the bones out of it, but on first viewing, there are a lot of individuals who will be very lucky or very fortunate to be in the starting 11 next week at Gillingham.’ Rovers Manager Steve Evans
‘I’m disappointed after where we’ve been in recent weeks; the standards we’ve set ourselves, and today was well below par. We got beat up, especially by Andy Cook, Green in the middle, runners; we didn’t win any first balls and didn’t win any second balls, really. They had runners everywhere, and we weren’t matching them. They just weren’t doing anything special; we just couldn’t handle what they were doing, and it was so effective.
‘We didn’t have a chance. We didn’t even make the goalkeeper make a save, which is the first in a long time. I’m sure the manager was thinking the same thing, given the number of games he’s been managing. Not making the opposition goalkeeper make a save is very disappointing. As I said, just the basics of the game – first and second balls were non-existent today, tracking runners were non-existent, and they just had free rein.
‘Obviously, the manager tried to change it up for the second half and tried to go a lot more direct. They huffed and puffed, but no real quality into them, just feeding off 50-50 balls, really, long and high. They gave it a good battle, but in the end that’s not good enough to win you games to get back into games, and we’ve got to get back to the drawing board and come again.’ Rovers Midfielder Richie Smallwood
‘It was a comprehensive win against a really good team. It’s early days, but they’re top of the league, and that was as comprehensive a two goal win as you’re going to get. It was really pleasing all round, with and without the ball, we looked a threat in transition, and we stopped their wide forwards who cheat in transition by staying up the pitch, which forced them into changes at the break.
‘In every tactical facet of the game, every positional one, every individual one, I thought we were clearly better, and that’s the most pleasing thing. I don’t think you can have a ‘statement’ win this early in the season, I’m not big on labelling them that way, but they’re a good team. They play a certain way and are good at what they do, but we did well in stopping them.’ Grimsby Boss David Artell
