DARRELL HATES PLAYING AT HOME
DARRELL Clarke claims he would would rather play away from home every week after blaming the Memorial Stadium pitch for a scrappy League One battle that saw Ellis Harrison’s injury-time equaliser earn Bristol Rovers a point.
Duane Holmes’ goal on the hour mark looked to have given Scunthorpe all three points but Harrison popped up at the death to salvage something from the game for the hosts.
Yet Pirates manager Clarke was more frustrated than anyone by the sandy playing surface and apologised to supporters for the shortage of entertainment on display as a result.
Clarke said: “The pitch is awful and it is only going to get worse between now and the end of the season.
“There is nothing the current groundstaff can do about it because the problem stems from mistakes made when work was carried out last summer.
“I am a manager who likes to play good football and my record here on decent pitches is something like 70 per cent wins.
“At the moment we have to go more direct and I don’t like it. It doesn’t suit my players and I feel for them.
“Their spirit is second to none and again they have refused to throw in the towel after falling behind.
“Of course, we can be better. But at the moment I can’t help wishing all our games were away!”
Striker Harrison saved the day for Rovers, converting Liam Sercombe’s stoppage time cross from the right with a low finish from inside the six-yard box.
Scunthorpe had taken a 61st-minute lead when Holmes stole in unnoticed behind Rovers’ defence to fire Funso Ojo’s pinpoint low ball into the box past Adam Smith.
The visitors had the best of what few chances were created in a forgettable contest and had gone close at the start of the second half when Ojo’s shot was deflected up onto the crossbar.
After Holmes’ goal, Smith kept Rovers in the game with a fine save from Tom Hopper on 71 minutes when the striker probably should have scored after peeling away from a defender and firing a shot on goal.
And Scunthorpe boss Graham Alexander was frustrated by the loss of two points,
He said: “Disappointing is one word – I can think of others... “We were guilty of some sloppy finishing when a goal up and paid the penalty.
“I felt totally comfortable throughout the game and we should have come away with a 1-0 win.
“The pitch was bad but the one we train on is worse, so I am not going to use that as an excuse.
“We defended quite comfortably I felt, with what we had to face, and I believe that physically we stood up to the challenge.
“This is a difficult place to visit because Darrell has done a fantastic job but we should be going home with three points.” BRISTOL ROVERS: (4-4-2): Smith 6, Partington 7, Lockyer 8, Craig 7, Brown 7, Sinclair 5 (Mensah 71 6), Sercombe 6, Lines 6, Bennett 6 (Moore 71 6), Gaffney 6 (Telford 71 6), Harrison 7 Subs not used: Slocombe, Sweeney, Nichols, Clarke. SCUNTHORPE UNITED: (4-4-2): Gilks 6, Bishop 6, McArdle 8, Burgess 8, Wallace 6, Holmes 7 (Goode 89 N/A), Yates 6, Olo 8, Morris 7, McGeehan 6 (Townsend 75 6), Hopper 6 Subs not used: Watson, Williams, Lewis, Adelakun, Sutton.