Kofi Balmer knew Bristol Rovers' trip to Bromley would be a battle from start to finish, with the Gas falling to a narrow 1-0 loss to the Sky Bet Two League leaders at the CopperJax Community Stadium.
Despite having opportunities to score in the first half, Rovers had a slow start to the contest, with the Ravens controlling most of the first 45 minutes and gaining the lead when Will Hondermarck struck his effort from a tight angle beyond the reach of Brad Young.
Steve Evans made a triple change at half-time to try and turn the momentum of the game in Rovers' favour, with Shaq Forde, Yusuf Akhamrich, and Joe Quigley all introduced. The visitors immediately went on the front foot and caused Bromley problems, but could not find the leveller, with Quigley lifting a volley over before Forde was shown a late red card.
Speaking to the media after the contest, Balmer knew the challenge Bromley would bring and said his side did not give themselves the best chance of a positive result after a slow start.
Well, Kofi, a battling performance. Just how frustrating is it to come out on the wrong side of that one today?
“It’s very frustrating, but I think in the first half we didn’t really give ourselves the best chance. It sort of brings you back to the Crewe game. It started slow, and once we got into the end of the changing room at half-time, he says, ‘that’s not good enough, we’re better than that.’
“We had to come out with a reaction, and I think we did that. It was a battle for the whole half, and we had our chances in the first half, and we had our chances in the second half. We should have taken them, we didn’t, and we didn’t give ourselves the best chance.
“I felt like we were on top, and then something that shakes you happens; we spoke about that after the game. It’s not good enough, but at the same time, even when we went down to ten men, we still put up a good fight. We had to go for it, and I think we did that, but if we don’t start fast in the first half, we don’t give ourselves the best chance.”
What is it like at half-time when the manager is making a triple substitution and changing the system as well? How easy is it for him to get his points across and for you guys to think, ‘changed system, change of players'.
“Yeah, it’s straight to the point. We’re in an industry where you have to be able to do that. You have to be able to switch straight away, and I think with both formations that we’ve played in this game, we’re all comfortable with that.
“But I think, really, at the end of the day, it shouldn’t have to come to that. We should be ready for a fight; unfortunately, today we weren’t. At half-time, when you’re making three changes, you’re also looking and saying, ‘we’re refreshing it. Just give it a go', and we did that."
As you said, until the red card, you were on top. Bromley are top of the table, they’re probably going to get promoted at the end of the season, so you’ve shown that you can play the best teams and be on top against the best teams.
“We knew what we were coming in for, we knew it was going to be a scrap, and it was going into the battle. They are top of the league for a reason. They do what they do well.
“But the second half shows that we are capable of putting up and fighting. It's disappointing not to come away with one point, never mind possibly three, but I think we came here knowing it was going to be a hard game. In the first half, we didn’t show up, and in the second half, we did. So, we need to be consistent with the second half."
You held them to very few chances, and I think in the end, the goal was deflected as well, wasn’t it?
“I’m not too sure. I think Brad said it took a little nick, but at the same time, we shouldn’t have given them that chance. We left ourselves open, but we’ll go back and look at the game and look at the negatives and work on that.
“But also look at the positives because there were plenty of them, and we need to look at them."
How are you, personally, and the rest of the players at the end of such a long week? The trip to Barrow, the trip here today, it has been quite a tough one.
“It’s been tough. We’ve had some rest. The manager is good with that. We go, and we do bits of training after the games, and we use the facilities. I think the boys have done that. I think it has been a long week, but at the same time, every game, everyone is ready and ready to go.”
You’ve been four games unbeaten, obviously, it comes to an end. How important is it now that you start a new unbeaten run, starting on Tuesday against Shrewsbury?
“Obviously, it’s disappointing to lose that unbeaten run, but at the same time, you know, we’re on the next game now and just hit the ground running again, get the momentum going, and we'll all stick together, and if we do, we'll have no complaints."
And how focused are you guys on getting the points you need to pull away from that bottom of the table?
“Obviously, we’re concentrating on that, but at the same time, we just look at the game we have next because we can’t look too far into the future. We have to worry about the next game; it’s massive.
“It’s massive for us, you know. Obviously, the crowd today were unbelievable, as they have been every game, home and away, and to have that sort of support coming behind us is like a 12th man. On Tuesday night, that’s massive for us, and we’ll need them.”
