Chesterfield 2-0 Bristol Rovers (League Two)

Parkes couldn't lead Rovers to victory

The Gas crashed and burned at Chesterfield yesterday, falling to a lethargic 2-0 defeat. The first half could have gone either way but the second period was particularly poor from Rovers and it seemed as if the sheer number of games that they've played recently caught up with them. Goals from Jay O'Shea and Armand Gnanduillet sealed the 3 points for the Spireites and it saw Rovers slip back down in to 17th place, still comfortably above the relegation zone.

Every club has an off-day, even those who have been playing as well as we have in the last two games. We have a very young squad and it always seemed inevitable that it would catch up with us at some point. Unfortunately it happened yesterday, in front of an incredible away following of 600+ Gasheads. It could have been so very different if Eliot Richards' long range beauty hit the back of the net instead of the post but as it turned out there just wasn't enough oomph about the performance. We've beaten much better teams than Chesterfield in recent weeks and if we'd reached the levels we'd shown in those matches then we'd have beaten the Spireites too. But we didn't and it shows how tight the league is when you aren't playing as well as you should.

We gave the ball away, sloppily, for their first goal but you have to give O'Shea credit for a terrific finish. It darted in to the top corner and no goalkeeper would have stood a chance of keeping it out, so no blame can be attached to Steve Mildenhall. The second saw Gnanduillet weave a way past Parkes and slot home. Both were easily preventable but on the day we just didn't seem on our game and these sorts of things happen when that's the case.

It was a disappointing day, there's no denying that, but we have to dust ourselves off and go again. It was a minor hiccup and we now have to prepare for another difficult game against Port Vale. The Valiants aren't in good form and lost at home to Southend yesterday so they'll be looking to bounce back to keep their place in the automatic promotion places. They boast Lee Hughes and Tom Pope in attack, so defensively we'll have to have recovered from Chesterfield to keep them out, however we've scored 5 without reply at home this week and more of the same will see us defeat Vale comfortably.

Now we need to ensure we perform like we know we can.

Up the Gas!