‘Abysmal’ Bristol Rovers got what they deserved against Luton – Darrell Clarke

Bristol Rovers boss Darrell Clarke brandished his side “abysmal” as they were beaten 1-0 at Luton this afternoon.

Andrew Shinnie’s 62nd-minute goal divided the two teams, but the Pirates were indebted to a fine showing from on-loan Brentford goalkeeper Jack Bonham for ensuring they were still in the contest.

Rovers are left in the bottom four and are winless in five League Two games.

Clarke said: “We were absolutely abysmal for 45 minutes and I take responsibility as I always do.

“Every decision I make at the minute is costing us but I need more from the players.

“I’ve made my feelings known in there and we’ve all got to do better.

“I’m the first one to hold my hands up but too many of the players are not producing at the moment and they know it.

“Things have to change and they will do. I’m very concerned about where we are.

“It’s nowhere near good enough for this club and it’s nowhere near the standards we’ve set over the past four and a half years. For that I am accountable.

“Players who have come into the club aren’t good enough and I do the recruitment.

“Our club is not going to be a nice happy place for the next few weeks. I won’t tolerate a performance like that.”

Victory was Luton’s third in a row at home and their display – if not their finishing – delighted boss Nathan Jones.

“We were excellent,” Jones said.

“First half if we’d have scored, it was as close to perfection as I could have imagined, in terms of how we dealt with any threat they had and some of the football we played was wonderful.

“It’s just really, really sad that we didn’t take a chance earlier as then who knows what might have happened?

“These are an established League One side, and they changed – they went man for man with us to match us up – and I still thought we were totally dominant.

“Second half we weren’t as dominant, but ironically we were slightly more clinical, but in the end, we could have gone further ahead with great opportunities.

“If we’d had a little bit more of a clinical edge, maybe a little bit more cleverness, I think the game would have been over a lot sooner.”