Bristol Rovers 1 v Charlton Athletic 0

A John Marquis penalty separated the sides at the Memorial Ground on a sunny Good Friday as the Gas did the double over us.

Another day of disappointment for a hefty travelling support buoyed by last week's 6-0 hammering of Shrewsbury. Sadly, we struggled to create anything against a resolute home defence but also didn't really commit men forward in any great numbers. Too often our attacks ran out of options and we again reverted to passing the ball backwards. We actually had more of the possession in the opening half and Rovers were limited to a long range effort before half-time which Maynard-Brewer did well to stop with a flying one handed save. 

On the hour Joey Barton made attacking substitutions with Loft and Collins coming on and John Marquis joined them five minutes later. Those changes saw Rovers getting forward more and they finally looked like scoring. The penalty was given against Dobson for controlling the ball with his hand as he sought to cut out an attack. We looked beaten at that point and Payne and Bonne weren't going to change it when they entered the fray after 77 minutes.

At the death, we finally got an attempt on target and it should have been a goal. A ball in from Payne (I think) reached late sub Kanu who got in between two defenders and looked like beating the keeper as he careered off his line but the inside defender manager to get a foot to Kanu's shot and deflect it out for a corner. 

Personally, I don't think it does us any harm longer term that our weaknesses aren't masked for too long. There was a risk we could keep this run going and perhaps lull the powers that be into a false sense of security about the size of the task for next season. It was good to hear Steve Brown make this point in the match preamble because too often people have a tendency to get de-mob happy after a few good performances/results.

Finally, a word for two coaches of travelling Addicks whose day ended on the M4 somewhere after traffic delays meant the lone drivers had to rest for 45 minutes when they were already running late and in danger of missing kick-off. It had taken the first team 5 hours to reach Bristol the day before but the coaches departed at their advertised time of 10.30am and joined heavy Bank Holiday traffic. The coach company presumably took the risk of going with only lone drivers unless Charlton refused to pay for additional cover? Either way, 100 fans will be looking for refunds on their travel costs and match tickets.