Bristol Rovers might have fallen to a narrow 3-2 defeat to Stockport County in a five-goal thriller in Spain, but Darrell Clarke can take plenty of positives from the fixture and identify areas his team needs to work on.
The defeat to the Hatters concluded a positive week in Murcia, where the Gas endured a warm-weather training camp to prepare for the 2025/26 Sky Bet League Two campaign.
Stockport lost to Leyton Orient in the Sky Bet League One play-offs last term and were put under pressure in the early stages, but gained a two-goal lead thanks to goals from Ollie Norwood and Lewis Florini before Rovers levelled after strikes from Ollie Dewsbury and Luke Thomas.
However, the Pirates fell to a late defeat when Che Gardner netted the winner. Pre-season fixtures help build the fitness and tactical intelligence of teams, with Clarke reflecting on the performance and application of the players with BRTV.
So, Darrell, a 3-2 defeat to Stockport County, but I’m sure there’s plenty of positives to take...
“Listen, I want to win every game. I’m disappointed to lose the game at the end after we came back from 2-0 down, but like you said, there are positives to confirm that and a lot of things we need to work on.”
Last season, there was not always a reaction to going behind, but there was today...
“We have to react. You have to come from behind to get points and win games. We were 2-0 down and got it back to 2-2, but we’re disappointed with the goals. I think the first goal is a touch of class, obviously Ollie Norwood has got that in the locker, but we’re disappointed with the goals we conceded.
“But it is the backend of a really tough week. There are a lot of positives to take out of it, but also a lot of work to take out of it. I thought in the first half, we didn’t look after the transitions enough, didn’t take care of the first pass when we won it back and didn’t get as much control as I would have liked, but we’ll take that as staff because we’re at the early stages of what we’re trying to create here and work on.
“They had a bit more possession than I would have liked, but there were a couple of occasions where we have won it on the high press in the first half, and we’ve got to make sure it’s a better pass and we get a better opportunity. In the second half, we got the press right and we were ruthless on the transition, and we got our two goals.”
There were more minutes for Kamil Conteh and Promise Omochere. After an injury-hit season last time, how happy are you for them?
“It’s about building them up more and trying to get as many players as possible. Like you said, those two missed a lot of football last season, and we’re building them up to make sure that we get as many players as we possibly can fit for the first game of the season.”
A goal and an assist for Ollie Dewsbury. That must feel good...
“It was brilliant. The young lad is a talented boy. We have to be patient with him, but he has enthusiasm, drive and work rate.
“I’ve got a great coaching team here now, and we’re going to try and get the best out of every player. It’s nice to see one of our own scoring a goal out here.”
That ends the trip to Spain on the pitch. What are the main positives you can take from the last few days?
“If you’re going to say to me that not just this week, but since I’ve come in the building that there’s a lot of new staff changes, there’s a lot of different ways that we’re structuring the work that the players are not used to but are going to get used to it, I would say that it has been a really positive day within the course of that. But I don’t kid myself as well, there’s still a lot of work to do, and we’ll keep progressing and keep working with the group.”
There’s plenty to do, but there’s only a matter of days until the next game. Is it about quickly turning around and preparing for that?
“We fly back tomorrow, and we’ll make sure our week is right. We’ve got two games on Wednesday and Saturday, so we’ll look forward to those two.”
