Darrell Clarke delighted with his ‘clinical’ Bristol Rovers side
Posted Sunday, November 04, 2018 by PA
Bristol Rovers managers Darrell Clarke was relieved to avoid an increasing sense of déjà vu as a second-half blitz gave them a comfortable 3-0 win at Blackpool.
Rovers have created chances but failed to put them away in recent weeks and a scoreless first half had boss Clarke fearing the worst before Ollie Clarke’s double and Tony Craig’s stunning volley allayed those fears.
It was a first away league win since mid-August for the Pirates, leaving the manager thrilled with their new-found shooting boots.
“It was a pleasing performance,” said Clarke. “I thought we created some half-chances to take the lead in the first half and I thought it could have been a case of déjà vu.
“But the players showed the commitment and desire. We have been lacking that bit of quality in the final third recently but we were clinical here and I’m pleased.
“We will take the positives – we have kept a clean sheet and wiped our goal difference out but we know that this league is very competitive, and we won’t be getting carried away.”
Striker Clarke’s double were both from close-range, while Craig expertly volleyed in Tom Nichols’ deep corner at the back post but the boss really isn’t fussed who is ensuring his side are victorious.
“I don’t care who scores, as long as we are scoring goals,” he added. “Strikers like Ollie Clarke gain confidence from scoring but as long as you are scoring goals and winning games, that’s all that matters.
“Tony Craig scored a brilliant goal, and he has been fantastic for us. He epitomises the spirit that we have at the club.”
Blackpool were valiant in a narrow midweek Carabao Cup defeat to Arsenal but looked fatigued at Bloomfield Road, leaving boss Terry McPhillips to concede their recent exertions affected his side.
“We knew this was going to be tough on the back of the Arsenal game,” said McPhillips.
“We knew it was going to be really hard against a Bristol Rovers side that are in a false position in the league – they do not concede many goals and they keep a lot of clean sheets.
“Anyone that knows football knows that these three games in a week is difficult and, with the travel included, the players were a bit leggy – I can understand why.
“I’m not going to hammer them because they’ve had a tough run but the important thing now is that we bounce back.
“We were beaten to too many second balls and we had issues defending set-pieces, and ultimately Bristol punished us.
“We’ve used a lot of players in recent weeks, due to the amount of games we have had. We will look to them again in the next few weeks as there is no let up, in terms of games, so we need to recover physically and mentally and go again.”
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