Darrell Clarke might not have been pleased with Bristol Rovers' overall performance in the Gas' 1-1 draw with Colchester United in Sky Bet League Two, but was satisfied after his side collected their seventh point from three away outings in the fourth tier.
Looking to win five successive games in the league for the first time since 2016, the Pirates were put under pressure in the early stages by the U's before gaining the lead just before half-time through Fabrizio Cavegn, who blasted his strike into the net from the left side of the box to net his second goal in as many games.
However, Danny Cowley's men continued to create chances and levelled through Micah Mbick's first-ever league goal. With the contest level, neither side could find a winner, meaning the points were shared.
Speaking to BRTV after the fixture, Clarke reflected on the contest and Rovers' performance.
So, Darrell, it ends 1-1 here at Colchester. What were your thoughts on that one?
“Listen, I don’t want to overanalyse it, to be honest with you. I said the same to my players; there was a lot going on in the game. A lot of changes. A lot of formational changes.
‘Obviously, losing Promise Omochere to injury, there was a hell of a lot going on. We scored a really good goal, and our second half was sloppy. They came back into it, and then it was pretty even after that. A lot to analyse and digest.
“I’d say I’m disappointed when we draw a game. So we have to be at it; we’re the team that has to be at it to pick up the three points. We weren’t quite at it today, in my opinion.”
Now, first off, ignoring the football side of it, how is Promise from a human side after his injuries?
“I don’t know. I don’t know until we get it assessed, so we’ll have more information on that next week. Hopefully it’s not too serious.”
And like you said in the first half, a difficult start but a really good finish from Fabrizio. Was it about sucking up that pressure when Rovers weren’t at their best?
“Yeah, I mean, we were very loose in midfield in the first half. I can remember the first half, where we nearly got in a couple of times, where we were loose. We were very loose in possession at times today, and that made the game a bit of a basketball game. It made it pretty end-to-end at times. We’d have liked more control.
“Sometimes you’ve got to give Colchester credit, they came back into the game. They grew into the game. It’s always a difficult place to come, especially with the changes and one or two injuries we’re picking up at the moment. We’ll take a point, and we’ll move on.”
You mentioned their goal there, just after half-time. Is this always a difficult time to concede?
"Yeah, it is. Then you don’t want to go under. No disrespect, we didn’t look like we were going to go under, but some dangerous moments at times, and we put a couple of dangerous balls in their box.
“They were quite good at the end of things. It has to be analysed, I’ll watch the game back tomorrow and I’ll know a lot more, and we’ll review it on Monday.”
No two games are the same, but if you compare it to the Chesterfield game, where it was 1-1 heading into the final moments. Was it about getting a point and coming away with something?
“If you’re going to say to me every three away games, we’re going to get seven points out of it, I’m going to be a happy guy, but we wanted a better performance today, we didn’t quite get that, but we dug in and got a point.
“I don’t think there was a lot in the game if I’m honest with you. They were always going to give a reaction after their poor performance, and they’ll take plenty of points off of other teams, so it’s a hard-earned point. Put it in the bag, we’ll get ourselves home and then prepare for next week.”
Win, lose, or draw, it’s always the same attitude into the next game, isn’t it?
“Always. So that’s the feeling. We thank the fans who came in their numbers; they always show their support. We’ll take a point home and we’ll kip kip kip skip into the next game.”
From the media: Darrell, just one on Ollie. I think that’s one of his longer substitute appearances. How much was that a reflection or a reward for his two goals in the friendly the other day?
“Definitely. He’s a lad that we have real high hopes for. The more minutes we get, the more he grows and the more he can improve as a player. So, I have no reservations about putting him on.
“Fabrizio got 55-60 minutes. We get Ollie on, he gets more experience, more know-how. It’s something I’m not fearful of."
