Rovers boss encouraged after his first win in charge
PAUL Tisdale was delighted by Bristol Rovers’ response to a lacklustre start, thrashing Darlington 6-0 at the Mem to reach the third round of the FA Cup.
The Gas were edgy in the opening stages against the National League North side yesterday, but James Daly’s 29th-minute opener broke the game open.
A brace of Luke Leahy penalties and goals for Josh Hare, Erhun Oztumer and Sam Nicholson followed as Rovers avoided the kind of non-league banana skin which has floored them in recent years.
The victory is the first of Tisdale’s tenure, giving the Gas a muchneeded boost in confidence ahead of Wednesday’s League One clash with Gillingham.
“Any win would’ve done for me today, but to score six goals and to see the players do some really fluid, forward-thinking stuff made it so much more enjoyable,” Tisdale said. “We were solid but we weren’t good. I’ve just been asked what my favourite goal was and I said the first one, because it was the most important.
“We have to have a business-like approach to the way in which we play football and there were some wonderful moments of play which created goals today but the first goal was my favourite.
“That’s because it was a spell we weren’t good in but we still managed to pull through and create some uncertainty in the opposition’s back line and scored a goal from it.
“So we can’t go into every game thinking it’s going to be perfect. When you go in front it makes such
a difference. I enjoyed that because it reflected some of the things I’ve just said. There are some good performances, there’s a lot for me to ask the players to improve on but it was a good start and six goals is great.”
The Gas have struggled for goals this term, averaging less than one per game in the league, but they
found new freedom in attack after Daly was gifted the opening goal by David Atkinson’s errant clearing header. The goals, of course, thrilled the Gas boss, but he believes they must improve when games are tight.
“My request of them is that we have to have an impact on the game,” Tisdale continued. “When
it’s dull and there’s nothing happening like the first half an hour, we’ve got to find a way to create the tempo.
“But there’s got to be some sort of pattern we can apply to the game to create some intensity and forward play. And that’s not me trying to dumb down our way of playing football, that’s just the way it is.”