Clinton Mola believes Bristol Rovers must do better after losing 3-1 away to Accrington Stanley in Sky Bet League Two.
The Pirates had hopes of making it three wins in four outings across all competitions in November but fell to a sixth straight league defeat. The Gas started slowly and fell behind after Isaac Heath's sixth-minute strike, but had chances to level in the first half before Kamil Conteh struck the equaliser after the restart.
Rovers had the momentum, but Accrington scored twice against the run of play. Farrend Rawson helped the hosts regain their advantage with a close-range finish before Isaac Sinclair doubled Stanley's lead five minutes later.
Mola was left frustrated with the way his side conceded and suggested the early Accrington goal was tough for his team to deal with.
"It’s kind of set the tone for the rest of the game," said Mola on the first goal. "We never really recovered from it. We did well, we got the goal back and then literally after that, it’s just the moments, and it’s the moments that are not going our way right now. We need to do better because coming here and losing 3-1 is not good enough."
He also said, "It is disappointing. We were soft all over the pitch today, and it’s three poor goals that we conceded. It’s not good."
Rovers had the better chances after Accrington's opener and enjoyed plenty of spells in Stanley's defensive third. Shaq Forde curled a first-time strike over, and Alfie Chang saw his close-range effort cleared off the line before Conteh levelled with a superb strike from the edge of the box.
The Gas kept pushing forward to score a second, but two goals in five minutes from the hosts helped them to all three points. For Mola, the game was decided in moments, with the defender disappointed his side could not stay in the contest.
"We did well to get back in it. It was a good strike from Kam, and then it’s the moments again," said Mola. "We’ve just got to keep it at 1-1 and stay in the game, but we go and concede. It’s a bad set-piece, and the third one is another bad one as well."
“To be honest, it never really felt like they had that much in the game, like clear cut. We were just soft today and it’s three avoidable goals that has cost us.”
Rovers started the season with four straight defeats in Sky Bet League Two before going on an eight-game unbeaten streak across all competitions. The Pirates are now on another difficult losing run in the fourth tier, with Mola focused on claiming a positive result next week.
"It’s down to us, really," he said. "We as lads have got to pull our finger out and have got to start picking up points.
"We’ve been here before when we had that run. We’ve just got to get a win, and we can only look to next week. We have to do that and go and try to win."
