Rovers slipped to defeat at Braintree this afternoon, a disputed first half penalty contributing to their demise.
That was duly despatched just after the half hour mark and the home side scored a well worked goal after the break to record what was, in the end, a comfortable victory.
Manager Darrell Clarke was mystified by the penalty decision: “I don’t think it was a penalty as our keeper had the ball in his hands and their striker made a meal of things and dived in the back of the net after a
tussle with Tom Parkes.
“You see challenges like that every week. The lad was never going to win the ball and I’m a little bit speechless about the decision to award a penalty.”
Yet Rovers had started the game well and were on top at the time of the penalty award. They would have been in front had it not been for a magnificent save from goalkeeper Nick Hammann from Adam
Cunnington after only 14 minutes.
“We had chances before the spot kick, but we weren’t clinical enough. We started well in the second half and Dave Martin had a great opportunity, but we seemed to fall apart after they scored their second goal.
“We never got going in the last 30 minutes and we were a mile off of where we have been in our last three games.
“I can’t explain why we were so poor after their second goal. Yes, we were two goals down but other teams have come from behind to get something from games and I want to see more belief in our side.
“We seemed to be pumping hopeless balls forward and were nothing like the team we had been before the break. We have to come to places like this and play a lot better than we did today.”
Rovers now face a home game against Wrexham on Tuesday and the manager welcomes the chance to make amends for this afternoon’s performance..
“The players care about the football club and they are a hard working group, but we need more.
“We can’t allow ourselves to become frustrated by refereeing decisions and throwing in the towel as we seemed to do after the second goal. It’s not acceptable.
“The good thing is that we have another game on Tuesday when we face another tough game against Wrexham and a chance to put things right.”