Head of Youth Darren Patterson took charge of our reserve side this afternoon and saw them earn a 1-1 draw against a strong Cardiff City side courtesy of a last minute penalty, converted by Darryl Duffy.

"Cardiff are a good side" said Darren afterwards, "but I thought it was an excellent workout for both sides and that's obviously why the game was arranged.

"A lot of players needed ninety minutes and there were a number of good players on show, from both sides, this afternoon."

Although they worked hard throughout the ninety minutes, Rovers found themselves up against it in the opening period.

"I think we showed Cardiff a little bit too much respect in the first half, and stood too far off them. If you give players of that quality the time, then they are going to hurt you.

"At half time I asked the lads to get a lot closer to them and play five or ten yards further up the pitch. We did that and kept possession a lot better in the second half. We also passed the ball well and I felt that, in the end, a draw was a fair result."

The equaliser came after a challenge on Andy Williams in the area, which led to the penalty.

"It was the first time we had really switched the ball quickly, something we were trying to encourage the players to do. The penalty came after a great ball by Charlie Clough and some good movement from 'Willo' and it looked a certain penalty from where I was standing."

Rovers looked a better side after the break.

"A number of our players hadn't started a game in a while, so maybe that accounts for our first half performance.  When they are playing against good players whose movement and quality is good, they will cut you to ribbons and there were times when I thought Cardiff did that to us in the first half and I was a little bit disappointed with that .

"However I thought we stuck to our task very well, just as we did against Swansea a few weeks ago. We showed good character, good fitness levels, and ground out a result."

Rovers lost two players to injury during the match, Ben Hunt and Charlie Reece. Hunt had suffered with a little bit of a sore calf in the warm up, and although it tightened up a little, he felt OK to start the match though he lasted just 12 minutes. Reece suffered from cramp and was replaced with 11 minutes of the match remaining.

Once again, the full back pairing of Mark Cooper and Dan Cayford did well.

"Dan has been out on loan at Chippenham Town, and can also play as a central defender. I believe he struggled in his first game for Chippenham, but has done well in his last two games for them.

"Mark has been so consistent for me this season, in the U-18 side, whether at left or right back. His passing is coming on a treat and his decision making was much better today than against Swansea and today he put in a very consistent ninety minutes and was very sound, defensively."

Apart from the injury to Ben Hunt, all the experienced pros came through the ninety minutes unscathed, which will be a boost to manager Paul Trollope when he comes to selecting his team to take on Southend on Saturday.