Paul Raynor believes Bristol Rovers were unlucky to fall to defeat after losing 4-3 to Plymouth Argyle in the Vertu Trophy.
The Pirates were looking to progress to the Quarter-Finals of the Vertu Trophy, reacting to going behind inside two minutes when Caleb Watts scored the opener, turning the score around before half-time thanks to goals from Shaq Forde and Fabrizio Cavegn.
Like the first half, the Pilgrims had a lightning-quick start after the break and turned the scoreline in their favour again through efforts from Brendan Galloway and Lorent Tolaj, but Rovers responded again through Luke Thomas.
However, it ended in a heat break for the Gas, who conceded in the final moments to be eliminated from the Vertu Trophy. Reflecting on the contest, Raynor was pleased with large parts of the performance but was disappointed with the defensive mistakes in crucial moments.
Well, Paul, talk about a chaotic and ultimately heartbreaking game right at the end there.
“Yeah, I think it was a game we didn’t really deserve to be on the losing side. That’s my initial response, my initial reaction to that.
"We need to defend better; that is my initial reaction in terms of conceding four goals at home. We shouldn’t be scoring three goals at home and getting knocked out in a cup tie, but that’s something we can work on. That’s something we desperately need to eradicate. That’s happened too many times, even since we walked in the door. So, we need to address that, and we are keeping hard on that side of the game, but a lot of pleasing aspects, a lot of pleasing aspects going forward, we looked a real threat. We looked like a goal threat with a number of opportunities other than the goals, so that’s the disappointment.
"we at least deserved to go to penalties, and you know, Tom Cleverley’s got them playing some good stuff. They are a good side. You know, they have got a lot of Championship players in there, never mind the League One players, and he has got them playing well, and that’s a big disappointment, a big kick in the teeth, especially to lose it so late like that. The boys didn’t deserve that."
I suppose the shock of going down so early, you know, you get two goals back from Shaq and Fabrizio, and it was more than deserved at half-time.
"Absolutely. You know, we gifted them a first goal, and then we gifted them a goal straight after half-time. That’s just mentality, that’s concentration. We warned them, we needed to start well, we didn’t start well, and we gifted them a goal.Okay, Tom Lockyer doesn't mean to make a mistake, gifts them the ball, you know, it's an easy pass.
"He gets it wrong. Taylor Moore, at the end, gets it wrong, and you get punished. The better players you play against, you get punished, and as I say, you don't need to you don't need to hand Tolaj too many opportunities. You don't need to give him a hand. He's good enough as it is, and he proved that tonight. He was a handful all night, and you don't need to give him chances."
These are individual errors you're talking about. Are they easy to get out of the team?
"They are not easy, it's concentration, it’s not making, you know, silly mistakes. It’s things you can work on at the training ground, it’s communication, knowing what is around you, helping your teammates, there are too many tap-ins in the middle of our six-yard box.
"We saw it against Bromley, and that is communication, that’s picking people up in the box, that’s basics, that is basic defending, which we need to get better at. And if the guys that are in there are not doing it, then we replace them - it is as simple as that."
Talking about positives, this is a Bristol Rovers team that is in League Two that has taken a Plymouth Argyle team with Championship quality players and played them off the park for large portions of the game.
"That's nice to hear. We will take that praise, we will take that praise because we enjoyed watching the performance going forward. We didn’t enjoy some of the defending, as I say, I felt we were a little hard done by, the least we deserved was a penalty shootout, we thought we were going into that.
"I had already spoken to Rhys Carr about who our penalty takers are, who are our better ones, and that was something that we were already thinking about, but you cannot defend like that and give them the winning goal, so that is a disappointment. But I think the fans seem to enjoy the way we played, particularly going forward, you know, all that work on the training ground over the last few days seems to be paying off, particularly going forward. We just need to obviously work a bit harder on that defensive side."
As you say, it's a quick turnaround. There is a game on Saturday here again, back in league action, and if the lads play like that going forward and can tighten up defensively, hopefully it will be a good day at The Mem.
"I am looking forward to it and it's going to be a big crowd. I think the guys are behind us. You could see that they even clapped us off tonight, and that doesn't happen very often when you get beat, so that was nice to see.
"Let’s hope we can get it bouncing on Saturday, and we can put in a better defensive performance and obviously play like that going forward, because if we do, then I think we will win the game. But, you know, Colchester are a good side, you know, we will treat them with respect. Danny's got them playing some good stuff, but we'll be ready. The guys, you know, they'll take that on the chin, and we’ll bounce back."
