Kane Thompson-Sommers feels missed chances proved costly in Bristol Rovers' 2-0 defeat to Oldham Athletic in Sky Bet League Two.
The Pirates got off to the worst possible start when the Latics' Kane Drummond found the top corner with a powerful strike from range within 35 seconds, but Rovers rallied and created a plethora of opportunities.
Joe Quigley directed a close-range header just past the post on his return to Oldham moments before Luke Thomas lifted a first-time attempt well over the bar from inside the box.
However, despite dominating the opportunities, Oldham got their second after the break, with Mike Fondop seeing his penalty saved before scoring the rebound. Speaking to the media after the game, Thompson-Sommers was disappointed his side could not take their chances at Boundary Park.
“I think it is a really tough result for us to take," he said. "At the end of the day, we have come away with no points. Today, I don’t think our performance merited that. We created a lot of chances, but at the end of the day, if you don’t put them away, then you’re not going to win any games in this league.
"The others and I included have to look at ourselves in terms of when we get in those positions, we have to score, and today I think too many times, we didn’t score and make them pay for letting us have those opportunities."
He later added, “Nine out of ten times tonight we score, but today we didn’t. So, we can’t dwell on it. We have to move past it, and there is another game coming thick and fast this Saturday. So, we’ll look at the positives, we’ll look at what we could have done better because there are things that we could have done better as well at the other end, and we could have created even more chances.
“There are positives to take. We’ll talk about it as a group; we’ll keep each other accountable, and we’ll move on to another big game on the weekend. We’ve got to dust ourselves off and go again. That’s how it is."
The Pirates were looking to get back to winning ways after back-to-back defeats in Sky Bet League Two, but fell behind in the opening seconds when Drummond fired an excellent first-time strike from range into the top corner.
Thompson-Sommers said his side felt the effects of conceding so early on, but was pleased with the way his team reacted to going behind.
“I think it was a bit of a shock, and I think you could see that after that, for the next five minutes, we were shellshocked from the fact that they scored so early from such an unbelievable strike," said the midfielder. "After that, I think we reacted well, and we were the better team in the first half, and we’ve had three gilt-edged chances that on any other day, we score at least two of those, but today we didn’t.
"I think that was our downfall, and we conceded as well in the second half. We have to keep clean sheets as well, but I think it was a tough one to take tonight."
The Gas are back at The Memorial Stadium this weekend when they host playoff hopefuls Grimsby Town, who are unbeaten in their last nine outings in the fourth tier, winning six and keeping eight clean sheets.
Evans made five changes to his team on Tuesday night and could look to use his squad for a very different test on Saturday afternoon, with Thompson-Sommers emphasising the importance of everyone sticking together and doing their bit to help Rovers push up the table.
“We do have a good squad," he said. "You see it every day in training, what people are capable of. People, even outside the squad, are good enough to start. Everyone knows that the opportunity is going to come as long as you train hard. The gaffer is not scared to play whoever is right for the game. Everyone has to pull their weight; it’s a squad game.
“It’s not going to be one eleven, it’s going to take all of us to get out of this. So, we just have to stay as a team and whoever is out there on the pitch is going to be massive, and whoever is on the bench, you know you’re going to have a part to play as well."
