Bristol Rovers came agonisingly close to earning a draw against Chesterfield in Sky Bet League Two, with Head Coach Darrell Clarke sure his side should have come away with a point.
The Pirates defended resolutely in the first half against one of the form sides in the fourth tier. However, they fell behind soon through Tom Naylor's header after Joel Senior was shown a dubious red card, with the right-back adjudged to have brought down Armando Dobra, who was racing through on goal.
Isaac Hutchinson netted a deserved leveller off the bench for the Gas after the break, but the Pirates could not hold onto a draw. Kyle McFadzean flicked a header past Luke Southwood before Dobra added a late third three minutes later to give the Spireites their third straight victory in the fourth tier.
Speaking after the fixture to BRTV, Clarke reflected with frustration on the defeat and admitted his side should have defended the goals better.
So, Darrell, defeat at Chesterfield today. How do you reflect on that?
“It's a tough afternoon for us. I have to choose my words carefully so I don’t get myself in trouble. We started the first half and needed to make ourselves hard to beat against a good possession-based team. They had one chance from a corner.
“We had a great chance with Promise, and then the decision changed the dimensions of the game. From my perspective, it’s very, very, very soft. You can do all of your work and all of your stuff like that, but if it’s not going to be officiated properly, we’re in a bit of trouble.”
The 60-second period with the red card and the goal changes everything, doesn’t it...
“Of course it does, but also that doesn’t excuse for me when we get to 1-1. That’s a mentality thing. I’m very angry with the group on that because we get back in the game, and it’s a mentality thing to think that’s enough. It’s not enough. We should come away with a point. We have to defend.
“We have to do things, and then to concede a goal from a set-piece is inexcusable. Then they score the third on the counter-attack, but it’s a group that needs to learn quickly from those moments in games. The quicker we do that, the quicker we get the right mentality that I want at this Club.”
One of the positives must be Isaac Hutchinson getting his first goal of the season...
"I don’t see positives when we get beaten 3-1. We got no points, so how can we be positive? The lads have battled hard; they grafted hard. You can see that with the reaction of the supporters getting behind the players, but for me, it’s a mentality I don’t want in my team. You come away with a 1-1 when you’ve worked hard, not chuck those two points away at the end."
Did it feel when you levelled that you would go on and at least get that point?
"We know they [Chesterfield] have players that can hurt you off the bench when they change things, we’ve just got to defend properly. We’ve got to defend the moments, and we didn’t do that."
Added from the media:
What are those ingredients that will make a team you want to see?
"The more you play together and the more you work with the group, the more they get those connections. There is no easy fix. It’s never going to be that, and that’s why a lot of teams struggle when they have initially gone down.
"There’s always that little bit of a hangover period; we’ve had one massively with a really disappointing three games of the league campaign with no points on the board. So, we have to galvanise the group, and we have to go again on Tuesday."
Tuesday is going to be a big game against Oldham...
"Every game is a big game. We’re disappointed that we didn’t get anything out of the game today, and certainly one or two things went against us. We’ve got to reward our fans. Our fans were excellent today. You’ve seen the reaction after the game, but for me, it’s the mentality.
"I keep touching on mentality in the group because I think there is a bit of a long hangover from last year. I think the new lads are trying to settle in, which also takes its time. We’ve got to get the balance of that right, and you get that by winning games of football. Hopefully, when we win that first game, hopefully that’s Tuesday night, then we can start taking off and start looking up the table."
Kacper Łopata came in for his debut. I imagine it’s been a bit of a rush to get him in...
"It has been. We lost Connor Taylor in the summer, so we needed another dominant centre-half. Kacper is a lad that I know very well. He’s dominant. He’s aggressive. He’s a winner. So, hopefully that strengthens the group."
