We made the best of what we’ve got, says Widdrington

TOMMY Widdrington has explained the tactical tweaks he made in his game in caretaker charge of Bristol Rovers following Ben Garner’s sacking, writes Sam Frost.

The Gas beat Chelsea under-21s 4-3 in a topsy-turvy EFL Trophy tie at the Mem on Wednesday thanks to Josh Hare’s 90th-minute header to advance to the knockout stages of the competition.

Brandon Hanlan, Sam Nicholson and Zain Westbrooke also scored for Rovers, who never trailed in the game but struggled at times to contain a Chelsea side which contained England international Danny Drinkwater and Scotland U21 starlet Billy Gilmour.

After the game, Widdrington revealed the changes he felt needed to make to their playing style after Garner’s exit on Saturday to arrest their run of poor form.

“I just felt we needed to play the football we’ve been playing, but higher up the pitch,” Widdrington said. “And to get the ball higher up the pitch at times, you can’t always through more patient football. “

He added: “It’s not hoofing the ball or lumping it up there, it’s just making the best of what you’ve got.”

Widdrington also revealed he instructed his attacking trio of Hanlan, Nicholson and James Daly to play within the width of the penalty box, with Rovers’ forwards getting dragged into low-threat areas out wide too often.

“I’ll tell you now, there’ll be less than 3 per cent of goals wide of the 18-yard box and I don’t want the number nines at this football club not to score 10, 15 goals a season.

“So while there are times you have to go out there out of possession, the vast majority of the time when they’re running forward they need to be in the 18-yard box.”

The Gas shipped three goals, but Widdrington is not worried by Rovers’ defending.

“No concerns whatsoever,” he said. “We’re playing against elite Premier League athletes and some of their lads will go onto fantastic and I mean fantastic careers.”