Darrell Clarke put Bristol Rovers win at Oxford down to character

Posted Sunday, February 11, 2018 by PA

Bristol Rovers boss Darrell Clarke saluted the character of his team as they recovered from a goal down to win 2-1 at Oxford’s Kassam Stadium.

The victory made it five away games unbeaten in the league and avenged a 1-0 defeat by the U’s earlier in the season.

Deadline-day signing Kyle Bennett brought the Pirates level on 68 minutes after Joe Rothwell had given Oxford the lead in only the second minute, and Ellis Harrison volleyed home Ollie Clarke’s cross for the winner 10 minutes from time.

Darrell Clarke said: “The character of the squad was there for all to see. I thought for 88 minutes we were outstanding.

“Our keeper was sloppy for the first goal, and I slaughtered him at half-time. But to be fair to him his response in the second half, doing everything right, was good.

“For us it was good to play on a decent surface and show everyone we’re a good footballing team. Everyone goes on about how strong we are, but we can play as well.

“I’m pleased for Kyle to see him score. You can see he’s got that bit of resilience in him.”

Rovers have now won five on the trot at the Kassam Stadium, but Clarke had some sympathy for the U’s.

“Oxford are evolving a little bit. Obviously they came up with us and we’ve had cracking games against them.

“I was pleased with how we penned them in well in the second half. Our closing and pressing was very good.

“It was not the greatest start from us, and that’s an understatement, but we’ve come from behind a lot of times and shown the character we have.

“After struggling away at the start of the season, that’s now two wins and three draws from our last five away, so we’ve turned that around.”

Oxford United’s caretaker manager Derek Fazackerley said: “We got a good start but ultimately the performance wasn’t good enough to get anything from the game.

“After the start we got I would have anticipated us showing a bit more composure.

“The physical attributes they had put us on the back foot and we were defending for long periods.

“Our ability to retain possession wasn’t good enough to get a good result. Even if we’d won 1-0, we’d have been disappointed with the performance.

“There’s a bit of edginess when we play at home, after recent results, but we have to be better than that, be better on the ball and be prepared to play through teams and around teams.”

Oxford’s defeat came after a stunning 3-2 win at Charlton last week.
“The one thing that’s consistent about us is our inconsistency,” said a rueful Fazackerley.