Inigo Calderon has confessed that his Bristol Rovers side were lacking energy as they fell to a 5-0 defeat away at Lincoln City on Saturday afternoon, having won their previous two matches at home to play-off contenders Huddersfield Town and Bolton Wanderers.
After an outstanding effort to take maximum points from tough fixtures within the space of four days, Rovers severely lacked any quality as they were heavily beaten.
Once again, it was an abject display on the road as the Gas’ poor away form continued with Rovers losing 5-0 at Lincoln for the second time in a row.
“Well, I could see that coming from the start,” Calderon confessed post-match. “From the start, I don’t think we had the same energy [than] the last days. It was a flat game really from us. We didn’t have the energy at all.
“Listen, I totally understand the players. It’s not easy to play that many games but still you have to try to find a way, even if you’re not feeling a hundred per cent. You have to feel, or you have to find a way to get something from the game and we didn’t and I was happy with the 1-0 at half-time because, for me, it was a really bad half.
“We tried to do something. We tried to speak at half-time, but obviously when you concede two goals that early, that was too much. When you’re having a bad day and you concede two goals after half-time, that’s a really, really tough day for everyone.”
Rovers were fortunate to head into half-time only one goal down, following Jovon Makama’s opener, with Jed Ward forced into a string of good saves.
However, the Gas then completely capitulated in the second half with Makama completing a hat-trick with James Collins and Tom Bayliss also scoring.
Meanwhile, with Burton Albion beating Shrewsbury Town 2-0 elsewhere, the defeat saw Rovers’ advantage above the relegation zone cut down to six points with nine games remaining.
The Gas massively boosted their survival hopes with hard-earned victories over Huddersfield and Bolton earlier in the week and Calderon believed that the defeat to Lincoln came as a result of having limited energy left in the tank from those performances.
“Lacking energy, but you have to understand, it’s difficult because it’s not that they didn’t want to,” the Spaniard declared. “They wanted it, but they could not [do it]. I don’t want to blame them at all because it’s not easy with that many games. They didn’t play on Tuesday, we did. That was not a lack of wanting to do it right, it’s like we couldn’t.
“I said to the boys that we still have to try to find a way because probably it’s going to be more days now, the last games of the season, you’re going to be tired. So that cannot be an excuse. You have to find a way and we didn’t today.”