Fringe players fail to impress as Rovers are knocked out of Trophy
AN understrength Bristol Rovers side were knocked out of the EFL Trophy in the third round by AFC Wimbledon last night.
Jack Rudoni’s deflected strike was enough to beat the Gas after Paul Tisdale made eight changes with much more important assignments ahead.
But the manager will be concerned that few of his fringe players took their chance to impress as the visitors edged a drab 90 minutes.
Attention turns to League One action and Charlton Athletic at the weekend, as Rovers vie to climb further clear of the bottom four, but he would have hoped more players staked a claim for a place in his team.
The early exchanges were controlled by the visitors, but they had little more to show for it than a succession of inconsequential corners.
At the other end, Michael Kelly and Josh Barrett failed to trouble goalkeeper Sam Walker with attempts from long range inside the first 25 minutes.
Rovers steadily started to find some rhythm, but their best chance of scoring was from set-pieces, as it has been for the past few games. On 36 minutes, Michael Kelly whipped in a superb free-kick from the left and Mark Little glanced it goalwards but former Rovers goalkeeper Sam Walker reacted swiftly to tip it on to the crossbar and the ball bounced away to safety.
Three minutes before the break, Wimbledon threatened from a corner dead ball of their own, with Jack Rudoni’s ball in beating the leaping defenders and Ollie Palmer struck it on the volley, looping it harmlessly over the crossbar from 12 yards.
One sensed a goal laced with error or misfortune was required to break the deadlock, and so it proved with Rudoni’s 16-yard strike just after the hour taking a significant deflection and giving Joe Day no chance down to his right.
In a bid to rescue the game, Tisdale made four substitutions, including the introduction of forwards Zain Walker and Jonah Ayunga, and the pair almost mustered an equaliser with 19 minutes to play.
Ayunga drove to the byline and drilled a low cross in from the left, finding Walker inside the six-yard box, only for the ball to get trapped under his feet and Wimbledon were able to hack it clear.
Walker then tried to turn provider with 11 minutes remaining, cutting in with speed off the left and sliding a smart ball in behind for Ayunga, but the striker’s powerful drive was expertly stopped by the legs of Walker.
Alex Woodyard should have killed the tie in the 82nd minute after Ed Upson was robbed in midfield, but the midfielder dragged his effort wide.
Rovers huffed and puffed in the closing moments, but they failed to create the clear-cut chance required and their hopes of a run to Wembley were extinguished.