Inigo Calderon has declared that he felt that for 85 minutes, his Bristol Rovers side “were better than the best team in the league” but that effort “was not enough” as the Gas fell to a 2-1 defeat at home to League One leaders Birmingham City on Tuesday night.
Rovers got off to the worst possible start as Keshi Anderson fired the visitors ahead after less than three minutes. However, they eventually grew into the game and found an equaliser as Gatlin O’Donkor finished off a well-worked set piece in the 19th minute.
The Gas then had the better of the chances with Ruel Sotiriou seeing an effort saved onto the post by Ryan Allsop before half-time before the forward then fired over the crossbar from close range in the second half.
Calderon’s side were made to rue their missed opportunities as a handball in the penalty area from Connor Taylor saw Jay Stansfield score the winning goal from the penalty spot late on.
“Frustrated,” the Spaniard reflected post-match. “Proud of the boys, but frustrated because I think the football has been unfair with us. I would say it was unfair last Saturday as well, but we cannot waste time thinking of how unfair is football, because life is sometimes unfair and you have to keep going.
“Take the positives, and there were a lot of them today, but it’s not about being unlucky. At the end of the day, we make mistakes and that’s why they punish us.
“In a normal world, it should be enough to get something from the game, but when you are down there, that mistake, especially against a good team, they are going to punish you.
“I’m happy with the reaction, especially in the first half. I think for 85 minutes, we were better than the best team in the league but it was not enough, so we have to do better.”
Although they lost the game, Rovers will be able to take positives from their performance. However, their situation is now even more precarious after Burton Albion beat Leyton Orient 2-1.
After Peterborough United’s last gasp 4-3 win at Crawley Town, that now leaves the Gas just three points above the relegation zone with the Brewers boasting a game in hand and a superior goal difference.
In terms of chances, I haven’t looked back at the stats, but I would say we have more than them and saying that against the top team of the division is something good, credit to the boys, and maybe you feel even worse.
But we have to move on. We cannot stop too much to think about how unlucky we were, how the referee was with them, we cannot waste time. It’s about the recover and again and again and again.
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