Football Tisdale hopeful Jaakkola will be fine for Plymouth showdown
BRISTOL Rovers boss Paul Tisdale has assured Gasheads there are “no problems” with star goalkeeper Anssi Jaakkola after he was substituted at half-time on Tuesday.
Rovers edged out Leyton Orient 2-1 at Brisbane Road, thanks to Ali Koiki’s first goal in senior football and an own goal, to advance to the third round of the EFL Trophy.
But there was concern for Rovers fans watching at home after Finland international Jaakkola was replaced at half-time by Jordi van Stappershoef.
However, Tisdale told the Bristol Post at full-time the move was “half-planned” with Jaakkola feeling soreness in recent weeks and the manager is hopeful the Finn will be fine for Saturday’s game against Plymouth Argyle.
“Good to see Jordi come out for the second half and I was very interested to see how he would do. No problems (on Anssi),” Tisdale said.
Rovers were workmanlike in their performance against the Os, grinding out a win against a 10-man League Two side, without finding their groove in possession
“I wouldn’t say I’m going to go away and make notes on too many beautiful patterns of play, but it was good enough,” said Tisdale.
“We’ve got two goals. The first goal, I’m delighted with Ali Koiki getting a rebound off the goalkeeper, because that’s a good sign the team is thinking correctly, that they’re counting on those kind of errors.
“It was a sublime free-kick for Zain Westbrooke and it was a bit harsh for the goalkeeper to have an own goal against him.
“It was a game of two halves, in the second half it was a bit of a toil.
“When a team goes down to 10 men, their inhibitions go and they’ve got nothing to lose and they make certain choices and they play in a certain way perhaps you wouldn’t do with 11.
“I’m philosophical about that. I’d have liked us to have done better with the ball against them.
“When it comes to defending, we had a few minor scares but it wasn’t much.”