Bristol Rovers might have thumped in five goals in an eight-goal thriller against Newport County, but Ben Purrington believes his side could have scored even more on Saturday afternoon.
The Pirates battled against early adversity, conceding within 15 seconds before reaching the hour-mark 3-1 ahead thanks to efforts from Purrington, Fabrizio Cavegn and an own goal from Lee Jenkins.
The Exiles kept pushing, netting through Shaquille Gwengwe and Cole Jarvis either side of Bobby Kamwa's fine strike to set up a dramatic conclusion. With the visitors pushing everyone up for a corner, Rovers landed the final blow, with Cavegn racing forward on the counter before rolling the ball into an open net.
Speaking to BRTV after the contest, Purrington knows that his side must improve defensively, but heaped the praise on the attack.
REFLECTIONS ON THE GAME
"It was end-to-end; I was disappointed to concede three goals. Obviously, scoring five, though, you got to take the positives from it. I mean, we could have scored a lot more, to be honest with you. We had a three-on-one sort of thing; Fab was causing all sorts of trouble. But to concede that early, to bounce back, it can only be a positive trait for us - good character- but we've got to tighten up, and if we can stop conceding that, we can be a real threat going forward, and I think that's what we need to do."
HIS GOAL BEFORE HALF-TIME
"It's always nice to score before half-time and level it up, nice to get off the mark, personally. But to go one-nil down the way that we did that early, really disappointing; it just puts us on the back foot. But I think the way we responded, I think we had some real joy, some real positives to take away from the game, and hopefully we can take that into the next one.
"I think it was in the second phase, second or third phase, from maybe a set piece or a long throw, something like that. It's just one of those, just trying to stay on the move; you're never going to win many first contacts off it, but if you can stay on the move and it hits the bat and I'm just in the right place at the right time.
"I'm going to turn them down, to be honest, a nice little tap-in like that. But yeah, nice to up the mark. It probably put us on the front foot going into it. They probably had their heads down going into half-time, so yeah, it's a great time to score."
SCORING GOALS
"We have scored some really good goals today. Bobby's goal was outstanding, Fab on the counter-attack, Fab scoring again, did he get a hat-trick today? I mean, even Clint's had one there that he almost bent into the top corner. We could have scored six or seven today. It's just that as a group, we need to tighten up. We know where we went wrong with the goals and things, and the gaffer will probably highlight it on Monday. I mean, we're only going to get better as the season goes on, hopefully. So if you can tighten up and still keep that threat going forward, I think we'll be a real threat this season."
PLAYING IN FRONT OF A PACKED MEM
"I have been on the opposite side of it before, and that's not very nice. I mean, you could feel it; the atmosphere was a bit tense, but they were giving everything. They were sort of so loud when the score. It's nice to give them something back with a win. I mean, we have conceded three but given them five goals to cheer for. So I think it was really positive. We got to take the positives from it because if we don't, we are not going to score five goals many times that season, so yeah, really good."
