Coughlan: We need to keep pushing

GRAHAM Coughlan praised the character of his Bristol Rovers side after a hard-fought win at Scunthorpe boosted their survival hopes.

Jonson Clarke-Harris scored the game’s only goal to ensure Rovers move out of the relegation places with just 11 games remaining.

“I’m proud of the lads after that result,” said the Irishman, who has now won half of his 16 matches at the helm. “The work-rate, the attitude and the commitment was different class.

“Today they were full of character and passion, which I love.

“There was a lot of lads covering some distance so credit to them. They’re enjoying it, but as I say we need to keep pushing ourselves to do better.

“My remit is to keep this team in the division – that’s what it’s all about.”

Scunthorpe boss Stuart McCall said: “We’ve lost three points so naturally I’m disappointed.

“I can’t get my head around the 30 minutes before half-time.

“We started well, but then for some reason we lost the enthusiasm and they (Bristol) started bossing it. The goal was coming.

“Their two centre halves dominated our forwards and Clarke-Harris dominated our defenders.

“Second half we had to come out and show our desire.

“I had to check the programme at halftime to see if it was a testimonial!

“We huffed and puffed, but we can’t really say we tested their goalkeeper if we’re being honest.”

Adam Hammill twice went close for the hosts in the early exchanges, before Rovers’ Michael Kelly hammered a shot just over the crossbar.

Kevin van Veen then sent a shot wide for United before Bristol midfielder Liam Sercombe smacked a shot against the post.

The breakthrough came for the visitors after 35 minutes when Clarke-Harris slotted the ball beyond Jak Alnwick after Tom Nichols’s pullback.

Scunthorpe started brightly after the restart, but Funso Ojo couldn’t force the ball home from yards out.

At the other end, Sercombe saw a shot charged down before Ollie Clarke wastefully blasted over.

Dutch striker Van Veen was denied by Bonham again late on, before blazing over when wellplaced as the Iron suffered a first home loss since Boxing Day.