Steve Evans was delighted with Bristol Rovers' dominant 2-0 victory over Crawley Town and called it the Gas' best performance since his arrival.
The Pirates scored both goals in the first half, with Tom James curling a perfect free-kick in off the bar before Bobby Kamwa netted his second goal in as many games with a fine finish into the bottom corner.
The Gas had 27 shots to the Red Devils eight, with the hosts only registering one shot on target. Rovers were in control throughout, with Evans' only disappointment being that his team did not score more.
Speaking to BRTV after the game, Evans reflected on the victory over Crawley, the goals from James and Kamwa and the first clean sheet of the campaign.
REFLECTIONS ON THE MATCH
“I think that’s their best performance under Paul and me since we arrived at the football club because from minute one to the last minute, it was totally, totally dominant, and the disappointing thing is we don’t get the fourth or fifth, the sixth, because that’s what the performance deserved.
“That’s nothing against the Crawley lads; they’re a really good side. They just couldn’t get into the rhythm today because we dominated the ball and we dominated the areas of the pitch.
“It should have been [three or four-nil]. We missed some good chances, I think, arguably, before we scored; we missed three chances, and we were thinking, is a goal going to come?
“I must admit, you probably saw me off my seat only three times today, because I was fairly relaxed and supporters are probably looking around. As I said to the chairman, I didn’t want to make a substitution today, and the reason being that the players were in total command of the game."
TOM JAMES’ FREE KICK
“I’ve seen Tom James do it many times for Leyton Orient. He’s a technician as a full-back; he can do it. I was actually screaming for Tommy Leigh, because Tommy Leigh can do that type of thing, as we know.
“I think the word came back from Tommy is that TJ fancied it. The goal was special, wasn’t it? The second goal was special. It was a brilliant ball into Bobby; Bobby’s touch and finish is something we’d see in the Championship.”
BOBBY KAMWA’S GOAL
“You can see today, we’re warming up, and the fans are singing his name; the fans love him, don’t they? You’re going to love a player like Bobby. He frustrated me in the second half, if I’m being honest, because we probably got him on 15 or 20 one-on-ones, and the final end product of that wasn’t the way Bobby would want it to be and the way I’d want it to be.
“We love the little fella. I love him as a character, I love him as a player, and I worked so hard to get him in this summer. It was a bit of a persuasion to do because there was so much interest, but he’s loving every minute of it.”
A CLEAN SHEET
“I just said to Brad and to Kofi and to Riley, that’s more of their level. Their level is clean sheets; their level is let’s defend, let’s put our heads in, put our bodies in, let’s be aggressive, let’s be strong. Not be dirty; just be aggressive and strong; be assertive is probably a better word; they were today.”
COLCHESTER PREVIEW
“A tough game. I’ve got total respect for Colchester United as a football club. I know a lot of the players; they’ve played for me, some of them, and Danny and Nicky obviously came to The Mem and won comfortably.
“It was a special goal, but they won comfortably. So, we know that’s another tough ask, but we’ve got two home games at the Mem. All we ask our supporters is, if you’re on holiday, stay on holiday, and enjoy the sunshine and watch it on the telly; if you’re in Bristol, then come and get right behind us.
“We need every supporter we can, and a special mention to those who travelled here. They had a full voice from the start, and you heard them at the end, full voice at the end.
“The boys matched that away travelling support today; they let them down at York, and what we did at York was send a lot of people into a miserable weekend in a magical city that York is. But let’s come to Crawley and demonstrate that we can give them a magical start to this. This is just the start.”
