Wayne Brown's second goal in three days gave Rovers a fourth minute lead that remained until the 84th minute when Mathieu Baudry headed an equaliser from a corner, and that wasn't to be it as veteran forward Steve Fletcher prodded the ball over Conrad Logan's goal line to give the Cherries a 2-1 win in a game that also saw Rovers David McCracken sent off for violent conduct and the home side's Danny Hollands for two bookable offences.
There were three changes to the Rovers side, the injured trio of Danny Coles, James Tunnicliffe and Jeff Hughes dropping out of the team to be replaced by David McCracken, Gary Sawyer and Wayne Brown. Anton Robinson came back into the Bournemouth team for Harry Arter.
Bournemouth looked to take the game to Rovers but it was the visitors who hit back with the opening goal of the game. Stuart Campbell took the ball to the halfway line and played it forward to Will Hoskins, the star striker turning and playing a ball over the top for Wayne Brown to run onto and place a shot under Shwan Jalal for his second goal of the Easter period, the Iraqi goalkeeper getting a hand to it but not being able to keep it out.
The home side went straight down the other end and won a corner, Feeney putting a low ball in that Donal McDermott slashed at, taking a complete airshot and missing the ball, leading to massive jeers from the Rovers fans just to his left but it was Rovers who looked to extend their lead. Gavin Williams taking a dig from range that forced Jalal to make a superb acrobatic save, pushing the ball around the post.
Danny Ings had Conrad Logan making his first save of the game but the header from the home grown striker looped comfortably into the Irish keepers hands before Jalal had to make a similarly easy save from a Jo Kuffour effort and soon after what should have been a great chance for Rovers to double their lead turned into a disaster.
A corner was swung into the Bournemouth area by Stuart Campbell but before it reached the gaggle of players the referee blew up and subsequently sent off Gas centre back David McCracken for what looked like an elbow on Adam Smith. The pressure from being down to ten men was soaked up by Rovers, though, and thirteen minutes later Bournemouth's numerical advantage dissappeared.
Danny Hollands was already on a yellow card before Chris Lines looked to burst away through the centre circle only for his run to be stopped by the former Chelsea trainee's sliding challenge, leaving the referee with no option but to brandish a second yellow card his way.
By this time Stuart Campbell had already been forced off with a dead leg, being replaced by JP Kalala. The re-shuffle following the read card saw Gary Sawyer move to the centre of defence, Wayne Brown drop to left back and Jo Kuffour move to left midfield, leaving Will Hoskins the lone striker in a 4-4-1 formation.
The second half kicked off with a couple of Rovers efforts from Kuffour and Hoskins that never truly threatened Jalal before ten minutes in came the substitution that arguably turned the game, big Steve Fletcher coming on for Donal McDermott, running straight over to Gary Sawyer and his physical impact was clear from the first time the ball was hoofed his way.
Despite this there came a moment for Rovers to put the game to bed. Will Hoskins received the ball on the left hand flank and looked up to find Danny Senda running completely unmarked on the far side, beating a ball across to put the full back one-on-one with Jalal only for the ball to bobble up at the point of impact, Senda sending it high over the bar.
Ings looked to punish that miss as he connected first time with a short, jabbed pass from Fletcher but his effort flew over the bar a fairly brisk pace.
The game was getting livelier by the minute; Logan having to save from both Ings and Feeney while the former saw a shot cleared off the line by Senda. Jason Pearce flashed a shot wide and Gavin Williams failed to get the required bend on a right-footed effort at the other end after cutting inside from the left.
The home side were really piling the pressure on the Gas during the final fifteen minutes of the game and it eventually paid off, all of Rovers good defensive work being undone by the simplest of goals. Warren Cummings bent a corner in and substitue Mathieu Baudry got there first, running off his marker and thumping a header past the helpless Logan.
Kuffour saw a shot blocked as the Pirates desperately tried to regain their lead but then came the killer blow, not only of the game but perhaps to Rovers survival hopes entirely.
Danny Ings ran into the box and his shot from a tight angle was saved by the on-rushing Logan. Unluckily for Rovers though the striker was able to pick up the ball again and squared it for Fletcher to knock over the line, capping a superb substitute performance and compunding Rovers misery, sending them home with nothing when you couldn't have argued if they had taken all three points.
Gas caretaker boss Stuart Campbell couldn't hide his disappointment after the game and speaking to the press said:
"We are absolutely devastated to have lost the game.Steve Fletcher, scorer of the winning goal, talked to the media after the game and summed up his teams performance, saying:
"I thought we were excellent from, start to finish, and we passed the ball very well, and created a number of chances without getting another goal.
"When you are unable to press home your advantage, then you leave yourselves open to a comeback such as the one we saw from Bournemouth.
"I think we did more than work hard this afternoon because we passed the ball around so well even though we were the away team."
"We didn’t play well for 60 to 65 minutes against Bristol Rovers but really took the game to them after that. We did to Rovers what Yeovil did to us and it was a great feeling after Saturday.
"We know we didn’t play particularly well. But, at this stage of season, strange things happen in games and there are some strange results.
"We showed character and a never-say-die attitude and you will take any win at this stage of the season."
No comments:
Post a Comment