Bonham shines as the Pirates secure a point on their travels
Talking points from Bristol Rovers’ draw at Accrington Stanley, by John Evely
BRISTOL Rovers extended their unbeaten run to six games with a 0-0 draw at Accrington Stanley, but the stalemate did little to dispel fears the Gas need a new recruit up front in the January transfer window.
Rovers goalkeeper Jack Bonham had one of the exceptional performances which he has proved he is more than capable of.
In the first half, he frustrated the home side who had the better of the chances.
The goalkeeper, on loan from Brentford, made three top-class stops to see his side go in scoreless at half-time.
First, he denied the dangerous Billy Kee from a well-hit free-kick from about 25 yards out.
Then the goalkeeper, who Rovers are desperate to keep during the transfer window, pulled off an astounding low save at his near post to frustrate Luke Armstrong, but delighted the travelling support behind his goal.
In the closing moments of the half, Liam Gibson, who signed from Newcastle United this week for Accrington, almost made it a perfect debut with a low driven shot from distance seemingly heading in before Bonham athletically got down to push the effort out at full stretch.
In between the chances for the home side, Rovers played some nice football and looked dangerous on the break through Tareiq Holmes-Dennis and Alex Jakubiak, however the Gas’ best chance fell to Alex Rodman.
The winger got a firm header on a corner delivery but his downward effort went across the face of the goal and just wide.
It was more of the same in the second half with Bonham produc- ing the goods on several occasions to keep his side in the match. In the final moments of the game, the Gas still had a dramatic late chance to win.
Liam Sercombe was fouled on the edge of the box and awarded a free-kick four minutes into injury time.
The midfielder got his effort on target but goalkeeper Jonny Maxted pulled off a good save to see the final whistle blow and the spoils shared.
Here is a look at some of the key points from the match.
Third clean sheet in a row IN recent weeks Rovers have rediscovered their defensive stability and it has earned them a vital five points.
That improvement unsurprisingly has coincided with a big improvement in skipper Tom Lockyer’s form.
The Wales international has always played with his heart on his sleeve and has really taken Coughlan’s words to “fight for everything” to heart.
He is vastly improved in the air and reading the game really well.
Left-back Michael Kelly also had one of his best games of the season on Saturday marking the tricky Jordan Clark.
He almost intuitively seemed to know where the ball was going to go against Accrington and made several key interceptions.
Accrington a bogey team
IT might be the start of a shining new era for the Gas but Accrington Stanley have historically been a bogey team for the Pirates and there was no change at the weekend.
Rovers were beaten 2-1 at the Memorial Stadium back in August and have now not won in their last
six visits to the brilliantly named Wham Stadium.
Rovers last beat Accrington back in April 2012 with a 5-1 win at the Memorial Stadium when both sides were in League Two.
The Gas will now have to wait until next season to have another crack. Brilliant Bonham’s back to his best
JACK Bonham has not been at his absolute best in the last few games, letting in a goal on Tuesday in the Checkatrade Trophy which will have left him frustrated as he got a strong hand to it.
The on-loan Brentford stopper started the game slightly shakily on Saturday as well, this time failing to conclusively deal with a low cross into the box. But he was the standout player at the end of 90 minutes making at least a handful of outstanding saves to earn his 11th clean sheet of the season.
That is some going for a side that finds itself still in the midst of a relegation fight.
The returning Sam Slocombe, whose loan at Lincoln City was cut short this week, did not make the squad with Adam Smith on the bench.
How Coughlan will deal with having three senior goalkeepers is still unclear, but they certainly have one too many.
Could Smith be sent out on loan as Slocombe has maxed out the number of clubs that he can play for in a single season? Rovers unlikely to spend big in
the transfer window COUGHLAN is either going to go big or do no business in January it seems with a striker the main area in need of improvement.
Speaking after the match, he said: “I have said all along what we have got here we will work with, but if someone better crops up I will be all over it.
“I know what I want but that is not out there, that is not available and it is pointless me going out and just gathering players.
“If that quality player pops up and think he will improve this squad, I will go and get him.”
A point can be worth a lot ROVERS have had to keep winning in recent weeks because the other teams around them towards the bottom of the table have also had an uptick in form, but this weekend the draw was enough to move the Gas slightly further away from the drop.
The Pirates started the day out of the relegation zone - but only because of their superior goal difference. However, they are now one point clear of Oxford United, Bradford City and Plymouth Argyle who all have 27 points.
Bradford lost their match against Barnsley 3-0, while Argyle managed to beat Southend United 3-2 and Oxford United drew 2-2 against Fleetwood.
But with Bristol Rovers now sitting in 20th place in the table, their next match against Wycombe Wanderers on Saturday looks set to be another huge one.