Clarkson setting the standard for Rovers
BRISTOL Rovers forward David Clarkson has challenged his teammates to use this performance as a yardstick for the rest of the campaign after they comfortably saw off promotion chasers Burton.
Clarkson and John-Joe O’Toole were both on target after the break for the Pirates who could and possibly should have won by more against Gary Rowett’s men.
The loss for the Brewers was only their second defeat in their last 16 League Two matches and meant they missed out on the chance to climb into the automatic spots.
John Ward’s side meanwhile claimed backto-back league victories for the first time since August and Clarkson, who has two Scotland caps to his name, hopes this is the start of something special.
“It’s a good win for us, we worked hard for it and played probably the best we have all season so it was well deserved,” he said.
“It was unfortunate to not be in front in the first half so it was important we kept going , got the goal and then obviously the second is very important.
“They are up there and we set our standards high. These are the teams we want to be playing against and show what we can do and we have done that.
“Now it’s about consistency, we have got to do this every week and work harder, we have to keep it going if we can.
“I’m delighted to have got on the score sheet again and I really want to try and continue that.
“We have got some good balance in the side, good experience in the side, that has shown over the last few weeks and we want to progress from this result.”
The Pirates nearly hit the front in the first half when Lee Brown’s freekick prompted a goalmouth scramble.
But after the break it was the former Motherwell man Clarkson who opened the scoring, finding to space to head in a superb Michael Smith cross.
And O’Toole doubled the lead for his 14th goal of the season moments later, pouncing on a loose ball parried out by keeper Rob Lainton. “I am very disappointed with our performance, but now it is how we react to it that counts,” said Rowett after seeing his team lose an away league match for the first time since midNovember.
“We have been very proud of our away form, but now we have to start again. How we use our remaining games will define our season and we have to do better than we did here.We didn't create much and I have absolutely no complaints about the result.We need to make a fresh start.”