Rovers were well beaten by League One side Wycombe Wanderers in their second match in what is now known as the Jersey Mike’s Trophy.
A poor first half performance saw them conceded three goals without reply and, to be honest, it could easily have been double that.
The selected side showed nine changes from the game at Crewe just a few days earlier; only Alfie Kilgour and Jack Sparkes kept their place in the starting lineup. There was a start for new signing Arvin Appiah and a place on the bench for Stan Dunne.
Wycombe, meanwhile, included former Rovers players Connor Taylor and Luke Leahy in their starting XI.
Once again, Rovers were slow out of the blocks and conceded after only four minutes. A clearance by Charlie Binns was picked up by Aaron Morley and he found Cauley Woodrow who, in turn, picked out Malik Mothersille who slotted home.
Binns then made a fine one handed save from Emre Tezgel as the home side went in search of more goals. Ben Purrington headed clear the next time they attacked, another effort struck the crossbar and Tezgel saw two more attempts go close. One was cleared by Rovers defenders, another thwarted by a Jack Sparkes block.
It was no surprise when Tezgel did eventually score, though. When he poked the ball home from close range, in the 22nd minute, from Woodrow’s low cross into the box.
It was simply one way traffic towards Rovers goal and Wycombe scored again on 33 minutes when a cross from the right was met by Woodrow who volleyed past a beleaguered Binns in the Rovers goal.
Ryan De Havilland did hit a shot over the Wycombe bar late in the half and Rovers forced their first corner of the match in the fourth minute of time added on. That was as good as it got in a poor opening 45 minutes.
Half time changes saw Ellis Harrison and Shaq Forde replace Tommy Leigh and Philip Sanyaolu respectively but it was Wycombe who created the first chance of the second half, Woodrow forcing a fine save from Binns.
Rovers did threaten the Wycombe goal, though as goalkeeper Joe Wildsmith made a comfortable save from Harrison and Reiss Russell-Denny and De Havilland both hit efforts wide of the target.
Harrison scored a consolation goal for Rovers when he rolled in a shot following a superb chip from Russell-Denny and he might have scored a second but saw his header touched over the bar by Wildsmith.
Three minutes from time Tezgel scored his second, and Wycombe’s fourth, goal of the evening to ensure that his side progress to the knockout stage of the competition.
WHAT WAS SAID
‘It was a disappointing first half, but a much better second half. It was a disappointing result and obviously not the result we wanted. There were also some plusses in terms of the game time getting ready for Saturday, which you can see by the structure of the team and the way the team shaped up; that was always going to be the priority; making sure we’re right for Barnet on the weekend.
‘We wanted to get a result today. In the first half, we didn’t really look good enough and weren’t good enough with and without the ball. We made some changes at half time and got a little more of what we wanted out of it.
We tried to cobble a team together tonight to give us a little bit of everything, give people game time and make sure everyone was ready for the weekend. We have done that. The only disappointment was that the performance in the first half left a lot to be desired.’ Rovers Assistant Manager Paul Raynor
‘At the end of the day, our season is not going to be defined by this competition. It’s good for the squad; it’s good for people to get minutes, and we would have been delighted to progress in it for those reasons. It’s
nice to progress in all of the competitions. It’s not going to define our season; we’ll concentrate on the league and hopefully get a bounce on Saturday.
‘Stan Dunne makes his debut, and it was nice to see him come on. People who haven’t played in a while played. Obviously, Tommy Leigh was suspended, so it brings the squad back up to full fitness, and that’s the positive that we can take.
‘You look at the team, and there are people that haven’t played together. Those partnerships are going to have to form. Arvin has come in, Phil hasn’t played much, and you’ve got Stan. I played at centre-back; Alfie Kilgour unfortunately gets injured and then you’ve got Keenan there. It was a makeshift team, but there was more than enough quality on the pitch to come here and get more than we did. That’s what’s probably disappointing for us.’ Rovers defender Ben Purrington
