Joe saves the Day to make his boss happy
BRISTOL Rovers boss Paul Tisdale saluted his team’s ‘mental toughness’ after their draw at Fleetwood.
Tisdale and his squad had been feeling the pressure after a midweek 6-1 thumping at Accrington was a fifth defeat in six games.
However, Rovers were good value for a draw at Fleetwood in what was Simon Grayson’s first game in charge of the Fylde Coast club.
“That was probably one of the best ways the players could have responded,” said Tisdale, who saw a strong display from goalkeeper Joe Day at the heart of his side’s efforts.
“We’ve all had a really tough week, but what really matters is what happened from 3 o’clock today.
“In the end I’m really delighted with the performance from all the players.
“We fully deserved to come away from this one with a point.
“To be honest,
I’m disappointed we didn’t secure the win – I don’t think too many could have complained if we had nicked it.
“Other than during that opening 10 or 15 minutes, when we had to weather a bit of a storm from Fleetwood, I thought we looked quite composed and quite comfortable. We created a number of good chances and we were definitely in the game right until the end.”
Clear-cut opportunities were scarce during a disappointing opening 45 minutes.
Fleetwood bossed the opening 20 minutes and skipper Paddy Madden threatened, while at the other end Rovers went close through James Daly and Sam Nicholson.
And two minutes after the restart Day produced a brilliant diving save to keep out Madden’s arrowing drive.
New Fleetwood boss Grayson was rather reflective after his first game at the helm was a ninth without a win for the hosts.
“That was always going to be a very difficult game,” said Grayson. “I said to the players at half-time that if we weren’t going to get ourselves in a position to win it, then just don’t get beat.
“When you’re playing against a team who have just been beat 6-1 it can go one way or the other.
“The difference in this game was that we didn’t quite get the breaks during the opening 15 minutes when we had all the possession.”