LEE SORRY FOR HORROR SHOW
LEE Clark raged at Bury’s performance and promptly issued an apology to the fans after a second successive defeat.
The Shakers were second best for the entire match as Darrell Clarke’s Pirates cruised to their first win of the season, lifting them off the foot of the table.
After a goalless first half, Tom Lockyer broke the deadlock with a fine header from Lee Brown’s 56th-minute corner.
Billy Bodin then struck a well-deserved brace as the visitors ran riot.
A 90th-minute Jermaine Beckford header followed by Nicky Ajose’s first goal of the season made the scoreline look much more respectable for the hosts in a contest which saw Rovers have 26 shots in a dominant display.
“The two late goals papered over the cracks,” Bury boss Clark fumed.
“If it wasn’t for my goalkeeper we could have been on the end of a record defeat at League One level. It was awful from start to finish.
“Defensively we were all over the shop.
“I apologise to the chairman and the board of directors and most importantly to the supporters.
“They don’t deserve to watch that. They pay good money and it’s an unacceptable performance.
“I’m not going to make excuses because it’s not possible too, there was enough experience on the pitch.
“We need to find solutions to the problems and we have lots of problems at the minute. We are still early in the season but I don’t think that that’s an acceptable performance in any way, shape or form.”
The feeling in the Bristol Rovers camp could not have been any more different.
The Pirates assistant manager Marcus Stewart was delighted with how his side looked in control from the first minute to the last.
He said: “It was a great performance.
“Going forwards we were great and we looked solid, until the last few minutes.
“It’s been a while since I’ve seen a first half like that – the amount of chances we had and shots on their goal. For us not to come in a goal up, we almost had to pick the lads up a bit.
“Bury changed it twice, which they had to, but it’s great that we kept going and kept putting ourselves in the right position to score goals.
“For me, the start is after 11 games and we’re only three games down. “We’ve spoken about what we can do better after the first two games and those things came together.
“We cracked it here, but we haven’t cracked it for the rest of the season. “Every game won’t be as rosy as that. “Those things will come up again, so we’ve got to give slight reminders.”