THE GAME
Rovers made it three wins on the bounce as they returned over the Severn bridge with all three points following their 3-2 win against Newport County.
Darrell Clarke made three changes from the side that beat Grimsby Town seven days before this game; Brad Young, Alfie Chang and Fabrizio Cavegn came in for Luke Southwood, Ruel Sotiriou and Ellis Harrison respectively. Young and Change were making their Rovers debuts.
The opening 45 minutes were virtually a write off, turgid at best, torrid at worst and there was a definite lack of quality from both sides. Indeed, I can recall only one shot and that saw Young make a decent save.
Whatever Clarke seemed to say to his troops at the break seemed to work, as they looked a completely different side for the opening 30 minutes pf the second half and raced into a three goal lead.
The first arrived on 52 minutes after Cavegn saw one shot hit the post and his effort from the rebound blocked by goalkeeper Nik Tzanev. However, the rebound fell kindly to Luke Thomas who gratefully accepted the gift and bundled the ball home.
The shot stopper hit a clearance straight at the goalscorer who ran on and slotted the ball home, though referee Oliver Mackey decided the Rovers man had controlled the ball with his hand and awarded the home side a free kick.
Nevertheless, Tzanev seemed determined to gift Thomas a second goal and did just that on 59 minutes when he again cleared the ball to the Rovers midfielder who promptly rifled a shot back past the beleaguered keeper.
The impressive Chang set up the third goal on 72 minutes when his cross from the right saw Harrison head home from close range.
From coasting to victory though Rovers contrived to hand the initiative to their hosts and conceded on 78 minutes when Kai Whitmore hammered a shot past Young after being given time and space to pick his spot.
In the last minute of time added on Nathaniel Opoku grabbed a second for the hosts, but it was too little too late, and Rovers played out what little time there was left for all three points
WHAT THEY SAID
‘I’ve just said to my boys in the changing room there, don’t worry about the last 10-15 minutes, that’s on me. One or two enforced changes, unfortunately, we didn’t really have a midfielder on the bench, a few injuries and away with international duties. So, I’ll take that for the last 15 minutes. Nothing should take away the credit from the boys. The first half was a typical derby, not a lot in it, and in the second half, we got after them a lot more. We got three goals. It was disappointing to hang in there in the end, but the game’s about winning, and we won that.
‘Football’s not easy, is it? It’s a derby game, listen, they’re on the back of four or five straight defeats, there’s no real quick play, everybody’s setting up the set pieces and there weren’t a lot in the first half and I said to the boys at half time that we need to liven this up, raise the bar and get after them, because I thought the win was there for the taking. We did that in the second half and listen, unfortunately, we’re holding on there a bit at the end, but three valuable away points.
‘Listen, goals are important; they change games. Luke Thomas’ work rate has been outstanding, he’s got himself really fit this summer, and he’s taken his opportunity, and he added that little bit of quality. It’s unfortunate that he didn’t get a hat trick. I haven’t seen it back, but I think the goalkeepers whacked it at him and he’s got a hat trick there if they allowed that. I think forward thinking players get confidence from performing well and scoring goals, so I’m pleased for Luke.’ Rovers Head Coach Darrell Clarke
‘It was around midweek that I found out I was starting, when we started doing shape and stuff, aiming towards this game. ‘The Gaffer spoke to me personally, and I’m grateful for the opportunity. We worked a bit on me running into the channel, and it worked. I know where Ellis is going to be in the box, so it’s just a case of getting the cross in to find him.
‘To get an assist on my debut is brilliant, and I’m going to take that confidence going into the next game. I’m buzzing to take the three points, obviously, it wasn’t a nice feeling at the end of the game, it was very tense after they scored two late goals, but we got there in the end, so it’s positive.
‘The lads battled to the last minute and that’s all we can ask of each other and getting those three points, getting over the line, is going to help us later on in the season. When we’re under it and when we’re struggling, the lads are still winning headers, winning throw ins, winning tackles, winning free kicks. That’s what we need to do to get through the game.’ Rovers midfielder Alfie Chang
‘It got away from us in a 20 minute period when we got too many things wrong and Bristol Rovers capitalised. Credit to them for that. They asked lots of questions of us at key moments and we didn’t have the answer at those key moments. At 3-0 down, you’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain, but individual errors at key moments in time cost us.
‘The last 10 minutes I can’t criticise, but the game was done by then – we’d given ourselves a mountain to climb. Nobody likes to lose. The players don’t like to lose, we don’t like to lose. But, ultimately, we have and the buck stops with me.’ Newport Manager David Hughes
