Bristol Rovers 2 v Charlton Athletic 1

I predicted a defeat this evening, so am not surprised by the result. I was, however, disappointed with the tactics and the performances of too many of our players which put the game beyond us.

The assault on Grant Basey was criminal and we will miss him badly in the run-in, especially as Kelly Youga looks like he has a Doctors note until March at the earliest.
Young Solly did well in Basey's place but it's asking a lot of an inexperienced teenager to play you to promotion. Other than that, I have a number of observations I'm keen to get off my chest....
1) Rob Elliot made three fine saves which could have had us further behind earlier on in the match.

2) Sam Sodje had an absolute stinker and was lucky to have got away with conceding a penalty for a blatant foul. On this performance alone he deserves to be dropped.

3) Dailly and Richardson did what was expected again but they saw too much of the ball.

4) The midfield was a mess. We have already established to our cost that Bailey is wasted on the wing and that Semedo and Racon can't run the midfield in high tempo matches, typical of away games.

5) Racon had the worst performance in a red shirt that I can remember. His goal at the death was almost an embarrassment in the circumstances.

6) Lloyd Sam responds to being brought back into the side like he's looking for another start on the bench. Two crosses in 96 minutes simply isn't good enough. I also wish he would stop smiling at inappropriate moments too, like when the final whistle goes when we have been beaten. Look like you care Lloyd (even if you don't).

7) Burton was marked out of the match and Akpo Sodje looked well short of what he has shown to date.

8) David Mooney reminds me of myself as a rampaging centre-forward. Not quite fast enough or good enough to be in the right place at the right time but so desperately frustrated at my own inadequacies that I couldn't help handling the ball whenever necessary to try and gain some advantage to make up for the shortfall in ability.

9) Why-oh-why was the half-time substitution not to bring Bailey back into the middle for Racon? Instead we tinkered with the forward line which had seen precious little service. When Bailey was brought back into the middle at the next substitution we left the misfiring Racon on.

10) Parky's post match rumble about "responding to the setback" and "grinding out some results" was understandable in the circumstances but cuts no ice with me. We should have done that after the Orient match but then scraped a draw with Tranmere.

Automatic Promotion has long gone and all of the sides down to Huddersfield in seventh will now have us in their sights. Games in hand could see us slip to fifth, two points above Millwall with us yet to go to the New Den. Huddersfield, too, have two matches to spare on us and could get to within three points. As I said several weeks ago, the pressure is well and truly on for the Yeovil game.