Bristol Rovers treated the Gasheads to a 3-0 win against Newport County in Sky Bet League Two and Head Coach Steve Evans was proud of their performance.
The Pirates started the clash on the front foot, despite a dangerous early chance from the Exiles’ Ciarán Brennan, Yusuf Akhamrich netted a brace to put Rovers in the lead before the break.
Newport County picked up possession in the second half, with a couple of chances from Bobby Kamwa, but Fabrizio Cavegn was able to add to the scoring, as he tucked the ball into the bottom left corner.
Speaking to BRTV after the fixture, Steve Evans is grateful for the support from the Gasheads and the performance from the Gas.
Steve, a first home win for you here at the Mem as Bristol Rovers Head Coach, how does that feel?
“Yes, it’s a great feeling. It’s been a fantastic day all round. I think I’ve said every home game, I said to Paul before we came out for the game today, I said, ‘look at this support when we're third bottom of the football league.’
“It’s just incredible, and the noise levels were incredible all the way through the afternoon. For me, the team is the big winner with the three points. Matched equally by the fans, I said, ‘give the fans a reason to really be loud and proud and get behind their club again and get behind this team.
“They’ve had a lot of dark days, and I’ve had them here as well and I've not provided for supporters, so I think we win on the pitch and off the pitch, and credit to the Newport fans, they’ve turned up in big numbers. I know what that club means to the chairman and the people there, but today was about us.”
That first half, Yusuf, what a performance from him. What an all round team performance as well to go 2-0 up.
“I think Yusuf is a special talent, you know. I tried to take him to Rotherham United in League One a year ago and I spoke to the people, senior people at Tottenham and they obviously feed it back to you that he’s in his development stage, he’s not ready to come out into the Football League and we’re going to continue to develop him. But like you do, I’ve been and watched lots of games, including Yusuf at Tottenham.
“I actually sat here here at The Mem in that exciting game with Spurs U21s and Yusuf was a different gear altogether and I thought, he’s got to be ready. We made the call hoping he’d be ready. Thank you to Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, and the people that look after Yusuf, it’s important to them where he goes, it’s important to his family and he’s a special talent.
“If he keeps level, he needs to get a little bit fitter, we had to take him off, he’s played men’s football now and the excitement it brings. He’s just simply a wonderful talent that we’re pleased that Tottenham have given us to mature him and develop him."
In terms of what you’ve seen from your team in the first half, is that the challenge now to see that all the way through for 90 minutes?
“I think if you take away the first two goals, the two goals are individual brilliance. Simple. Individual brilliance, but what really pleases me was some of the passages of play between players that is starting to come through from the tight areas that we were working on in training. It’s new to the boys, they’ve not done the work that we’re trying to bring in. It doesn’t say our work is better than anyone’s, before anyone starts jumping to conclusions.
“It’s a different type of work, but you can see the work we have been doing with the likes of Clinton Mola. I saw him at Chelsea when he was a kid, he was a natural midfield player, he’s never played midfield since. I think he went to Stuttgart and played it there, but since he’s come to Reading and here, he’s never played that role but I think he was absolutely sensational today.”
Clean sheets are a big thing as well boss, how pleased are you with that?
“I’m pleased. I think Brad Young’s game was a bit more erratic today, his kicking wasn’t consistently good. But how can you knock a goalkeeper, who’s handling has been impeccable and gets a clean sheet, and he gives us big confidence. We’re not knocking Luke Southwood, he’s got a big part to play in the remaining games as well.
“Because we’ve changed the goalkeepers sometimes circumstance, sometimes it’s opposition, Luke’s got a big part to play before we start getting phone calls tomorrow.”
You said you’ve been looking forward to getting in front of the Thatchers end and having some time with the fans after a big game here. How did it feel to do that at full time?
“I think they’re incredible. I thought they were incredible as an opposition manager, but in all seriousness, I arrived here before nine o’clock this morning with early kick off and there was Bristol Rovers fans walking to the ground with their shirts on, there was a number of people around my car wishing us good luck.
“Listen, I’ve said it before, I’ve been proud to manage some really good clubs, Stevenage and Rotherham in particular, but arguably this is the biggest outside Leeds United that I’ve been the first in position to be installed as head coach. My work will continue, I’ve not been home for ten days and I’m going home tonight, but I’ll be back tomorrow.”
