After two of the most gritty, battling performances of the season against Huddersfield Town and Bolton Wanderers, Bristol Rovers felt the side effects of those monstrous efforts as a clearly already low energy tank culminated in a 5-0 defeat away at Lincoln City for the second season in a row.
A poor first half display saw those of a Gas persuasion relieved that the scoreline was only 1-0 after Jovon Makama had eventually broken Rovers’ resistance after some good saves from Jed Ward.
However, a complete capitulation in the second half saw Inigo Calderon’s men ship four goals as they fell to their heaviest defeat of a campaign that has offered an underwhelming amount of highs.
Everything about the 90 minutes at the LNER Stadium from Rovers was a complete contrast to their efforts in the previous two outings on an afternoon that was full of de ja vu from numerous angles.
With that considered, here are some of the talking points after a game to forget for the Gas…
De ja vu
Let’s start with the de ja vu. A 5-0 defeat at Lincoln for the second season running with the Imps’ striker getting a hat-trick? Tick. Goals conceded from corners? Tick. Another unacceptable performance away from home and result? Tick.
Perhaps shellshocked is slightly an exaggerated term considering how poor Bristol Rovers have been on the road this season but it is true that even the most pessimistic supporters would not have seen another 5-0 defeat coming going into the game.
Last season, Rovers were desperate for the season to finish with major change on the horizon while Lincoln were in the midst of a ridiculous run of form that almost saw them sneak into the play-off positions.
This time, looking at the table you would have to say that the Imps have little to play for at this stage of the campaign with the play-off positions as well as the relegation zone both distant. Meanwhile, the Gas came into the game on the back of two of their best performances and results of the season.
It feels as though after every away game, the same occurrences are written about and, with so little left of the season, it’s tough to feel confident that they are going to improve considerably between now and May.
Lack of striker options remains glaring
Not that it would have necessarily made a difference for Bristol Rovers given an extremely limited number of chances created, but their lack of striker options was particularly glaring on Saturday afternoon.
A repeat knee knock for Chris Martin saw the 36-year-old miss out, having scored a brace on Tuesday night against Bolton. Meanwhile, Inigo Calderon clearly doesn’t fancy January signing Michael Reindorf with the head coach confessing post-match that his performances in training have been sub par and Promise Omochere is out for the season. The hope is that Gatlin O’Donkor could be fit enough to be involved at Crawley Town next weekend.
Ruel Sotiriou is in good form, in fairness, but is one of very few goal threats currently available for Rovers. The good news is that it sounds as though Martin will be back next weekend but, realistically, the Gas cannot afford to have the 36-year-old miss another game this season.
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It’s not over until it’s over
Regardless of how poor a performance and day overall it was, it would be unfair to suggest that the reason behind Bristol Rovers’ display was because they thought that the Huddersfield and Bolton wins had automatically secured their safety. They know it’s still not over.
However, with Burton Albion beating Shrewsbury Town 2-0, the gap has been cut back down to six points. It’s not alarming because Rovers losing and Burton winning this weekend, based on their fixtures, was somewhat likely anyways. What it does do though is add more pressure to next weekend’s trip to a Crawley Town side that look destined for the drop.
Even with another run of back-to-back wins, Rovers won’t secure safety mathematically for a good while yet and they certainly won’t if they can’t shake this hoodoo away from home.
Realistically, they need to win at least one of their remaining games on the road, otherwise it is going to be an unnecessarily nervy conclusion.
Energy levels clearly drained
The major takeaway of Inigo Calderon’s post-match comments was that his side suffered from a lack of energy after investing so much into the previous two games. It was a fair point, considering that widespread fatigue was visible from the first minute. However, it cannot be used as an excuse.
In fairness to the head coach, it didn’t sound as though he was making excuses and he was right to point it out but there is no reason for a result or performance that poor.
Thankfully, the Gas now have a full week to recharge and prepare for what was already a big game and test of their credentials away at Crawley Town next weekend.
After the success of the Huddersfield and Bolton wins, no one needs to be hitting any sort of panic buttons. You would have thought that every Gashead would have still taken six points from these three fixtures. The hope is just that the manner of the defeat and performances proves to be a one off between now and May 3.