Inigo Calderon has declared that his Bristol Rovers side “are not really far from anything” as they look to shake off a frustrating 2-0 defeat at Wigan Athletic when they visit Charlton Athletic tomorrow night.
Rovers found themselves 1-0 down after just six minutes on Saturday afternoon, conceding from a set-piece once again as James Carragher headed in from a free-kick.
The hosts could have quickly doubled their lead in next to no time as Dale Taylor dragged a shot from range narrowly wide while Thelo Aasgaard also went close in the first half.
After Gatlin O’Donkor saw a good opportunity saved, the Gas conceded another extremely soft goal as Jonny Smith capitalised on a poor moment for both Josh Griffiths and Connor Taylor.
Rovers had gone into the game on the back of consecutive League One victories over Cambridge United and Barnsley and Calderon believes that small margins will make the ultimate difference for his side.
“We are not really far from anything,” the Gas head coach confessed post-match on Saturday. “It’s just small margins and obviously you have to stay in the game and you have to try and make the position more difficult than we did in the first 10 minutes.
“That’s why I’m more disappointed because I’m pretty sure that if we were in the game better, we [would] have [had] a good chance because the week was good. The boys were in a good momentum but that start, that first five, six minutes killed us.”
In just one month in charge, Calderon has already overseen clear improvement but Rovers still remain in a relegation battle, something that the head coach detailed will be the case for a period of time.
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Results elsewhere over the weekend meant that the Gas didn’t drop down the table nor get closer to the relegation zone. However, it did see the current bottom four tighten up with just one point separating the quartet, admittedly with some boasting games in hand on others.
Rovers can’t improve on their current standing of 18th place on Tuesday night with 17th place Exeter City four points ahead. Meanwhile, hosts Charlton are only two points off of the play-off positions following a run of five wins in their last seven league outings.
However, the Gas could record a league double over the Addicks for an incredible third consecutive season having won the last five meetings between the two teams.