A goal, a clean sheet and three points were all part of a successful afternoon at The Memorial Stadium for Jack Sparkes.
The Pirates have been stalwart at home in recent weeks and were looking for their sixth win in seven games when Accrington Stanley came down south on Saturday afternoon. The Gas got off to a perfect start, with Riley Harbottle heading in five minutes into the contest.
However, as Sparkes told BRTV, the hosts were not happy with the remainder of their first-half performance and looked to put it right after the break. Sparkes set them on their way, curling a fine free-kick past Ollie Wright before Mees Rijks and Joel Senior missed chances to extend the lead.
Speaking to BRTV after the game, Sparkes was delighted with the win and a second-half performance that secured all three points.
“Yeah, it was really good," he said. "We said it was a massive game before, so to get the three points was massive for us, and obviously the fans as well.”
"We always put it in the box at every opportunity. So, Riley did a good header. It was difficult from then on; we didn’t really get a foothold on the game from that goal. But we come in at one-nil and then in the second half, I thought we had a very good second half.”
"We had words at half-time; it wasn’t good enough. So, it was about coming out and putting in a good performance that would win us a game.”
With just one goal separating the two teams, Sparkes came up with the crucial moment. Moments after Fabrizio Cavegn was fouled on the edge of the box, Tommy Leigh and Sparkes were standing over the set-piece, with the former of the two setting his sights for another goal at The Mem.
However, with Accrington's wall leaving space to the left, Sparkes saw his opportunity and took it with both hands.
“Tommy was going to have it, and then the keeper had set his wall up so far to the right, and the gap was just massive, so it obviously suited me to just go round it," said Sparkes. "That’s what I did.
"I don’t think I’ll ever have a keeper set it up like that, probably again, because I’m not sure what happened there, to be honest. It was nice to finally score [a free-kick]. I think that was my first free-kick, actually, in professional football. It was nice to actually get one.”
With the Gas two ahead, Evans added Shaq Forde and Mees Rijks to the attacking mix. Forde caused plenty of problems with his dribbling ability, carrying the ball up the pitch and getting into the final third.
Rijks also made an impact, holding up the ball well and getting into clever positions to score, but the 23-year-old missed the target with his attempts. Sparkes suggested his side could have won by a more comfortable margin before backing Rijks to open his scoring account for the Gas.
"We had a lot of chances nearer the end there," said the left-back. "Joel Senior had one, I think Mees had a couple. So, it was disappointing not to come away with it four or five up.
"I feel for Mees the last few weeks, he’s been left out and it’s been a little bit stop-start for him, but he’s definitely done well today and shown the gaffer that he definitely is ready when called upon. Also, he’s missed a couple of chances, but he can’t lose any confidence from that, because they will come.”
