Steve Evans was delighted with Bristol Rovers' dominant second-half performance in the Gas' 3-2 victory over Harrogate Town in Sky Bet League Two.
The Sulphurites had the lead at the break after Ellis Taylor's superb effort from the edge of the box, but the Pirates battled back in the second half. Shaq Forde's strike soon after the restart was cancelled out by another goal from Taylor before the Gas turned it up a gear to claim all three points on the road.
Ellis Harrison got onto Shaq Forde's cross to poke in his effort from close range before the substitute got his second to give Rovers the lead for the first time. xx brought down Fabrizio Cavegn in the box, with Harrison blasting his penalty into the back of the net.
Speaking to BRTV after the victory, Evans was thrilled with the Pirates' ability to come from behind to secure a fifth straight victory in the fourth tier.
Steve, five straight wins. How does that sound?
“Listen, football’s about winning, isn’t it? I think for us today, I was really disappointed at half-time because we have to come here with the greatest integrity. Four, five or six clubs are all fighting to avoid the drop into the National League.
“So, I thought it looked like we just turned up to go through the motions in the first half. In saying that, it’s a magnificent finish that puts them in front. There’s nothing else in the game, so it’s not a bad performance; we just lacked a little bit of sharpness.
“We made the changes in the second half, we scored against the run of play to equalise and get one point, but we were totally the dominant side and deserved to win.
“Our integrity is kept high, and we go away, and every other club knows that the players, until the end of the season, certainly if we’re playing against teams that are fighting for a prize, we’re going to do our best.”
What was behind that second-half revival?
“I think we just adopted a different way of playing. We identified that pace would cause them a problem, so we put Shaq Forde up top, and at that time, I was going to introduce Fabrizio.
“He’s not been on the pitch for two or three weeks now, so we held him back a little bit and said he would have some impact in the last 20 minutes.
“That’s how it worked out, we changed the shape of the team, and when we changed the shape of the team, it was equals in the first half. Not a lot on it, but we were totally dominant in the second half.”
Shaq has had a bit of an up-and-down season, but a goal and an assist really helped Rovers forward.
“Listen, he’s a top talent. We have to continue to give him confidence; that’s why I sent him over to the magnificent support. I can’t believe how many turned up today, when we’d already secured our place in the football league.
“They’ve turned up in big numbers, all around the hotel last night, today. Wonderful, wonderful people. Thank you to everyone who has come and supported us, and they’ve got the rewards with another win.”
And Ellis, the perfect attitude off the bench to get a brace and to get all three points.
“It was a big call today. We felt sorry for Joe. It’s not very often that we apologise to players for taking off, but Joe had no support in the first half. We felt that Ellis had probably got more movement than Joe. Joe’s got more aerial ability, but we felt that the movement would give these boys a problem at Harrogate, and it certainly did.
“I thought Ellis, putting his goals aside, led the line-up with Shaq Forde, and then we introduced Fabrizio, who looked like the Fabrizio we love. With a few little niggles he’s been carrying, we gave him two or three weeks to shake them away.
“I just said to him there, ‘How did you feel?’ and he said he felt, for the first time in a long time, razor sharp coming on. So, that’s good.”
Under you already, that’s a third comeback. What’s behind this ‘never say die’ attitude from the Club?
“I said to the players, you either have a DNA that says you fight, and you can lose games, but if you go home and get on with your family, you think, ‘have we given our supporters a shift today? Have we given our owners a shift? Have we given ourselves a shift as a team?’
“So, we will continue to fight, and as I told every individual player, if they don’t turn up and fight, they leave, or they don’t play.”
You mentioned it there, EFL safety secured, but there are still points to play for and positions to play for as well.
“I gave three years of my life to put Crawley Town into the football league, but I’ve got to prepare properly against them next week. It’s a club with good owners and the best people in East Sussex, but they’ll come to the Mem next Saturday for an early kick-off.
“We have to be ready. They’re capable of popping it around you. So, from our point of view, every game we play, whether it’s when we look at our next two games, Crawley’s in the fight and Tranmere Rovers are in the fight. Two really good football clubs, that we have to do what we’ve done today, which is turn up with integrity.”
