Darrel Clarke dedicated Bristol Rovers’ victory over Cambridge United to the Gasheads after his celebrations with them at full-time.
Ellis Harrison’s first-half goal was enough to secure the three points for the Gas, the veteran striker’s 50th goal for Rovers, but his first since his return to the club in the summer transfer window.
The Gas were then able to withstand wave after wave of pressure from the away side with fantastic performances across the Pirates’ backline, which got the crowd behind the team at The Memorial Stadium.
Clarke was visibly pleased after the game, and he came in to talk to BRTV to give us his full reaction.
Darrell, three points at The Mem today. How does that sound?
“It’s a win for our fans today. It’s been a long time since we won a game. The performance I thought in the first half was good. In the second half, we’re hanging in there too much for my liking, but I get it and understand why, I think the fitness levels are not where I want them to be for different reasons, but we’ll get there but credit to the lads for how much they dug in and ground out another clean sheet.”
Is that defensive resilience at the very end closer to the mentality you expect?
“The mentality was very good today. As much of the ball they [Cambridge] had and they put more forward-thinking players on, the goalkeeper still didn’t have a save to make, which is promising.
"We defended our box really well and the lads have put their bodies on the line, but we want to be seeing games out more comfortably than that at times at home, but it was needs must today and a pleasing win for our supporters who have been through a lot of pain.”
Back-to-back clean sheets, that’s certainly something to build on as well.
“There’s so much work to do. It’s a good three points; it's an important win today, but I'm disappointed it wasn’t back-to-back home wins if I’m honest with you. But we grinded it out today, and sometimes you have to do that, certainly the third game of the week and the games we’ve had in August, the players playing catch-up. To get a home win for our punters was the main thing today.”
You mention that it’s just one win today, but surely it builds a lot of confidence going into the rest of the week?
“It’s just one win, like you said. Just get on with it, enjoy it, but straight away there’s loads of work to do. Wins last about two minutes for a manager, losses last all week until the next game. So, we’ll enjoy that and then the players can enjoy that a little bit more, and then back to work on Monday.”
Ellis Harrison got the winning goal today, what a finish from him as well...
“Yeah, pleasing for Ellis to get off the mark, another player that needs a hell of a lot of fitness work. We’ve just got to keep building these players up because I’m having to play them, the squad is not the size I probably want it to be, and we still need two or three new additions to the group as well. But players are putting their bodies on the line today, and I thought on Tuesday night we played a lot better as well, if I’m honest with you. But today was just about digging it out.”
And that Mem roar when the ball goes into the back of the net, you must have missed that feeling?
“Our fans are so passionate, and like I said, today is about them. There’s been a lot of pain over a period of months, but for me it’s just a very, very small piece of a massive jigsaw that we’re trying to put together. But saying that, I don’t want to come across as miserable; we’ll enjoy it.”
It’s a quick turnaround to Tuesday. Are you looking forward to future weeks where you’ll have more time with the team on the training pitch?
“Yeah, I think that will help the group. We will work on a certain fitness programme that benefits certain players who need to catch up with the levels, so we’ll work in different weeks. We’ve got the trophy game on Tuesday, which is a chance for some minutes, and we keep working with the group, trying to get better.”
