Coughlan delight as Rovers move out of relegation zone with Scunthorpe win
Posted Sunday, March 10, 2019 by PA
Bristol Rovers boss Graham Coughlan praised the character and passion of his Pirates side after a hard-fought 1-0 win at Scunthorpe boosted their survival hopes.
Jonson Clarke-Harris scored the game’s only goal to ensure Rovers move out of the relegation places with just 11 games remaining.
“I’m proud of the lads after that result,” said Coughlan, who has now won half of his 16 matches at the helm.
“The work-rate, the attitude and the commitment was different class.
“There’s always a but and I do want to get more out of this group.
“They are a great bunch to work with. And today they were full of character and passion, which I love.
“I would have liked to have taken it easier on the sidelines because I don’t like those 1-0 wins!
“There was a lot of lads covering some distance so credit to them.
“But they’re enjoying it, in training and like today, but as I say we need to keep pushing ourselves to do better.”
Rovers’ victory lifts them up to 19th spot on 40 points, one clear of the bottom four but now only four points behind 12th-placed Wycombe in relegation battle involving almost half the division.
Coughlan added: “My remit is to keep this team in the division – that’s what it’s all about.
“We’re not there yet, we’re still a long way off.
“But if we play like we have done today then we’ve given ourselves a chance.”
Adam Hammill twice went close for the hosts in the early exchanges before Rovers’ Michael Kelly hammered a shot just over the crossbar.
Kevin Van Veen sent a shot wide for United before Rovers midfielder Liam Sercombe saw his effort smack against the post.
The visitors made the breakthrough in the 35th minute when the in-form Clarke-Harris slotted home from Tom Nichols’ pullback.
Scunthorpe could find no way back after that, with Funso Ojo and Van Veen missing second-half chances, and boss Stuart McCall found few positives to take from the clash – admitting he felt it was like a testimonial match at times.
The former Rangers boss, whose side are just one place and one point above Rovers now, said: “We’ve lost three points so naturally I’m disappointed.
“I can’t get my head around the 30 minutes prior to half-time.
“We started well but then for some reason we lost the enthusiasm and they (Rovers) started bossing it.
“The goal was coming.
“Their two centre-halves dominated our forwards and Clarke-Harris dominated our defenders.
“Second half we had to come out and show our desire.
“I had to check the programme at half-time to see if it was a testimonial!
“The atmosphere isn’t going to be vibrant when you’re down where we are, but we have to give the fans something to get off their seats about.
“The quality from wide areas today was so poor when we got in really good positions.
“We huffed and puffed but we can;t really say we tested their goalkeeper if we’re being honest.”
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