Steve Evans insisted his Bristol Rovers side must learn from their difficult 2-0 away defeat to Grimsby Town in Sky Bet League Two.
The Pirates were looking to make it five straight wins in the fourth tier, but were two goals down at half-time after a clever finish from Kieran Green and a superb strike from Géza Dávid Turi.
The Gas looked to get back in the fixture with several changes at the break, but struggled to create chances, something that they have not found difficult this season, previously scoring in every league fixture.
Speaking to the media after the game, Evans was disappointed with the performance and believes his team were second best for long periods.
REFLECTION ON TODAY’S PERFORMANCE…
“It was a tough watch. We were second best all over the pitch for long periods. The first goal was simple. It was as basic a goal as they could score. It's just a simple long ball up to Cook, a flick-on, and Riley Harbottle should just clear his lines.
“The second goal was a fantastic goal from the player's point of view, but we've got no one. He's probably travelled 25 yards with the ball before he strikes it, which is unacceptable.
“Second half, we just tried to go with more physicality, more of a presence, because we had zero in the first half. That didn’t work either because our quality up to those two was poor.
"Then, when you're always hoping for a goal because these [Grimsby] will get butterflies because they have conceded when they have been two ahead on a couple of occasions this season.
“But Tommy's old discipline doesn't give us a chance to do that. So, we have to accept it. We go away as we did at York, we’ll get back on the training ground, and we thank our supporters for travelling this distance for that 12:30 kick-off. Incredible."
A DIFFICULT LOSS AFTER A POSITIVE SPELL
“We’ve freshened them up, so there's no excuses on that front. I mean, there's a strong wind down against us in the first half, which contributes to them having more presence in our half of the pitch. It was strong, but we had the benefit in the second half.
"We didn't take advantage of it. But individually, we were poor for long spells, and then when it goes to ten men, you’reasking us to climb a mountain with training shoes on."
THE FIRST GRIMSBY GOAL
“Well, it's a simple execution. We're going to lose headers. We’re League Two players and managers. We're going to lose headers, especially to Andy Cook, who is decent.
“He wins a header, but Riley is there three or four yards in front. It's just a horrible mistimed, misjudged header, and from that, he feels his hamstring, so he had to come off, but I thought Ciarán went on and acquitted himself.”
SERVICE TO THE FORWARDS
“You have to give them service. If you bring Quigley and Harrison onto the pitch, you have to give them service. But we have to go away; we have to learn from it.
“We have to accept that this level of performance isn't where we normally are. So, we have to bounce. We had four good wins, but that's not acceptable when you produce a first and a sixth game like that. We have to go away, go back to the training ground and work hard."
LOOKING TO BOUNCE BACK
“Players like Kamwa, Forde, and Cavegn have to turn up when it matters. Listen, I've always said, Bristol Rovers will always win games at The Mem, because we play with 12, we play with our supporters.
“But you come away to difficult venues, like this, like York; we need to simply be better. So, we need to rethink thestrategy playing away from home, compared to being at home.
“Look at the Crawley performance; I think Crawley were as good at home as Grimsby are, and the statistics probably back that up. I will watch it back this evening, and I'll pick the bones out of it, but on first viewing, there are a lot of individuals who will be very lucky or very fortunate to be in the starting 11 next week at Gillingham."
