Exeter City 2-1 Bristol Rovers (League Two)

Rovers fell to a disappointing 2-1 defeat away to Exeter City on the opening day of the new season as Grecians debutant Sam Parkin netted a late winner.

As a depleted Rovers squad warmed up at St James Park, Gasheads were left to wonder just what sort of performance the boys would be able to muster without the likes of Matt Harrold, Ryan Brunt and Matt Gill around. Mitch Harding was handed his first league start up front with David Clarkson and Eliot Richards got the nod on the right wing ahead of Alefe Santos. We looked desperately short of attacking quality and that showed throughout the game.

There was plenty of effort and endeavour on show but very little in the way of quality from both teams. Exeter had a lot of possession but rarely tested Steve Mildenhall while our attacks seemed to get cut out before we reached the penalty box. Still, 0-0 at half-time gave us a decent platform on which to build in the second half and push on. We were much improved but still weren't testing the dodgy Artur Krysiak in the Exeter goal, the custodian who let in soft goals against Rovers twice last season. In a disappointing turn of fate the home side took the lead after a spell of Gas pressure and it was former defender Danny Coles who claimed it.

A corner was swung in and the centre half was unmarked as he powered a header beyond Mildenhall and into the back of the net. It was imperative that our heads didn't drop at this point and, to the lads' credit, they didn't. We began to attack a little more purposefully and while genuine shots on target were hard to come by we did have their back-line scrambling at times. There was a distinct lack of quality to our wide play and our deliveries into the box, whether it was from open play or an Ollie Norburn set-piece, was absolutely woeful... until Ellis Harrison whipped a fine right footed delivery to the edge of the 6 yard box. Richards was on hand to guide it home for 1-1 and it was no coincidence that we scored with the first decent cross we mustered all game.

We were back in it and at this point I felt sure we would go on to claim all 3 points. Our heads were up and all it would have taken was a bit more pressure and Coles & co. would have buckled. Unfortunately though we got a little excitable and got stung by an Exeter foray into our half. A cross was played in from the left hand side and the big Parkin got in front of Mark McChrystal and flicked the ball into the bottom corner. Mildenhall was rooted to the spot unable to believe our poor defensive play to allow Parkin the time to get to the ball first.

On came Alefe Santos and we started to get some quality crosses into the danger zone. The diminutive winger looked confident and did his full-back for pace on several occasions with some nice bits of skill thrown in for good measure. If we had this sort of quality to our play earlier then I think we would have gone on to win the game comfortably but it was all too little too late. There was one final opportunity after a Richards shot was spilled by Krysiak to the feet of John-Joe O'Toole, who swivelled and sent a low effort towards the bottom corner, only to see Coles clear off the line. It would have been a deserved equaliser on the balance of play but you could sense that it wasn't going to be our day.

The final whistle sounded and as usual we began the campaign with a defeat. It is important we remain philosophical about the situation though. We kept ourselves in the game without several first team players and were unlucky to lose - imagine how well we would play if we had a fully fit squad. We'd have a lot of quality, probably too much for most teams. I bet John Ward can't wait to have everybody competing for a starting spot again, God knows we deserve some luck on that front.

On to Watford and Scunthorpe United in the next week. Come on Rovers.