Rovers were not good enough, blasts Barton
BRISTOL Rovers crashed out of the FA Cup as non-League Boreham Wood reached the third round for the third year in succession.
Wood, who knocked out AFC Wimbledon and Bournemouth last season before losing to Everton, took a grip on the game with goals by defenders Will Evans and David Stephens.
Hosts Rovers failed to produce a short on target in the opening half, and although they looked marginally better after the break, it was not until the 82nd minute that Wood goalkeeper Nathan Ashmore made his first save of note, denying substitute Harvey Saunders.
Furious Rovers boss Joey Barton said: “I don’t get to watch the draw on Monday with any anticipation.
“I get to prepare for Bolton and the key is that we reach our level of performance and anybody who doesn’t consistently do that, whether you’ve been the best player for us last year or we’ve paid money for you this year, if you don’t get to it, you won’t hang around here.
“I don’t like losers, I don’t like spending time with losers. Of the group that lost for us in the first period when I took over, 40 of them have exited the building, staff included. You get a short time on this planet. I don’t like spending
BRISTOL ROVERS ............ 0 BOREHAM WOOD ............ 2
time with people who don’t care about what they do and don’t apply themselves correctly in every single moment of their life.
“We were not good enough. Some of our boys need to have a long, hard look at themselves as that isn’t the standard of this club.” Rovers: Belshaw, Thomas (Gibbons 46), Connolly, Gibson, Sinclair, Evans (McCormick 46), Whelan (Finley 46), Gordon (Clarke 46), Collins, Coburn, Loft (Saunders 66). Not Used: Kilgour, Hoole, Jaakkola.
Booked: Clarke.
Boreham Wood: Ashmore, Evans, Stephens, Fyfield, Coxe, Broadbent, Payne, Brunt (Rees 76), Ilesanmi, Ndlovu (Marsh 71), Newton. Not Used: Elliott, Lewis, Williams, Sousa, Andrade.
Booked: Brunt, Payne, Marsh.
Goals: Evans 18, Stephens 30.
Attendance: 4,769.
Referee: Sam Barrott (West Yorkshire).