Bristol Rovers suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of Milton Keynes Dons in Sky Bet League Two, but Darrell Clarke emphasised that the loss will not derail their positive start to the season.
Alfie Kilgour's own goal had given the visitors a first-half lead, with late goals from Laurence Maguire, Alex Gilbey and Rushian Hepburn-Murphy giving Paul Warne's men a comfortable victory.
The Pirates have lost back-to-back fixtures in the fourth tier after falling to a 2-1 defeat to Walsall last weekend, after a positive run of results in previous weeks. The Gas had won five of their seven fixtures in Sky Bet League Two, with Rovers now looking to bounce back to winning ways when they host Tranmere Rovers next weekend.
Clarke reflected honestly on the fixture and is looking to turn his attention to the Gas' next project.
Darrell, I can only imagine it’s quite a frustrating result for you this afternoon...
“Yeah, listen. You don’t need me to stand here and say that that’s not good enough. We know that. We’ve got to know that. We’ve got to understand that as a group. We gave really cheap goals away today, and we were nowhere near it with the ball if I’m honest with you.
“Listen. You either go away and blame things and blame this and that. The fact of the matter is, we’ve been awful today. With that, there has to be a reaction, and you get that by getting back on the grass as quickly as we can, ready to react again.
“Not a lot to say on it, a performance way below our standards, but I also won’t let it derail the base that we built. These things can happen sometimes at this level. At any level. We have to take our medicine tonight, and then we have to get back to work.”
I can imagine that the dressing room is really hurting after that result...
“Yeah, the boys care. The boys care, but we’re under no illusion about how much work we still need to do as a group. We’ve never shied away from that. It’s a game where we didn’t deserve anything from the game. We got beaten heavily because we’ve conceded really poor goals and not got our play going forward.
“So, it needs to be analysed and worked on, but also, I think we have to understand that although we’re hurting now, we have to make sure that the reaction’s really positive and make sure that the week on the grass we have, we’re ready to go next Saturday.
“That’s the only way you respond. The only way you respond when you get beaten heavily at home is to respond at the next performance.”
I can hear it in your voice, I can hear it in the answers that you are giving. I can already hear how eager you are for Monday to be here and the work to begin for Tranmere, to right today...
“Yeah, definitely. Let’s not paper over the fact that it is a bad day for us. Not trying to brush anything under the carpet. It’s a bad day, but it’s about reaction. It’s about not becoming victims.
“It’s about the next game, next project, let’s go win that. Disappointing day. Disappointing day for our own supporters, but with that, we need to react to that and go again next Saturday.”
