Match Report: Bristol Rovers 1-2 Blues
Blues go to within 8 points of the League One title after a 2-1 win at the Memorial Ground courtesy of Keshi Anderson and Jay Stansfield strikes.
Birmingham City moved to within eight points of sealing the League One title with a 2-1 win over Bristol Rovers at the Memorial Stadium.
Blues took an early lead through Keshi Anderson but were pegged back by Gaitlin O’Donkor’s close range finish. The hosts missed a couple of big chances before Jay Stansfield’s late penalty sealed the three points.
Chris Davies went with an unchanged XI following the 4-1 win over Shrewsbury Town at the weekend. The only change to the squad was the return of Paik Seung-Ho, who stepped in for Emil Hansson.
Blues were ahead within three minutes. Ben Davies switched play to Ethan Laird, who combined with Kieran Dowell. James Wilson read the situation but gave the ball back to Dowell, who crossed for Anderson at the back post. The winger took a touch out of his feet and curled the ball beyond Jed Ward.
Bristol Rovers were woken up by the goal and they set out making life awkward for a Blues side still largely in control of the ball. They produced a fine move leading to an offside goal before a long throw caused issues as Blues failed to clear. At the other end, Alex Cochrane’s deep delivery found Ethan Laird to volley out for a throw.
It was a set-piece that brought the visitors back into the game. Kofi Shaw’s delivery found the giant Connor Taylor free at the back post. He nodded back across goal to the similarly unmarked O’Donkor for a simple finish. Blues defenders were ball watching. Chris Davies’ disappointment showed across his face.
Blues had a decent moment when Dowell spread play out to Anderson but neither Dowell or Jay Stansfield could make the most of the ball falling to them in the area.
The hosts should have gone ahead on 35. A goal kick was followed by two flick-ons and a wayward Cochrane clearance across his own 18 yard box. Matt Butcher headed towards the penalty spot and O’Donkor read it, bravely heading towards goal as Ryan Allsop stepped out only to see the ball bounce back off the bar.
It didn’t get easier for Blues. Shaqai Forde and Taylor Moore linked up down the right but O’Donkor could get his header on target then Shaw showed quick thinking from a free-kick to play Ruel Sotiriou in behind after he escaped Marc Leonard, who was blocked off by Romaine Sawyers. Allsop did well to knock the ball behind for a corner.
There were only four shots in the second half. The first came via some brilliance from Anderson who won possession from Moore, turned both Shaw and Wilson before forcing Ward into a stop.
The Gas had their best chance of the half when Willum Willumson was dispossessed, O’Donkor taking the loose ball, driving through Tomoki Iwata and Davies only to see Sotiriou strike over the bar from less than 12 yards out.
They were punished. Davies made a couple of changes and switched around his attack. A quick throw from Cochrane found the run of Stansfield, now playing from the left, and his pass for Willumson was blocked by the hand of Taylor. Bristol Rovers did what they could to delay the penalty but Stansfield made no mistake, calmly slotting past Ward.
And that was that. Alfons Sampsted did well to clear a dangerous cross but Blues defended their area and saw the game out comfortably.
Lineups
Bristol Rovers: Ward; Moore (Senior 86) Wilson Taylor Mola; Shaw (Ward 66) Sawyers Butcher (Hutchinson 86); Forde (Thomas 86) O'Donkor (Sinclair 74) Sotiriou. Unused; Hall; Swinkles.
Blues: Allsop; Laird (Sampsted 78) Klarer Davies Cochrane; Iwata Leonard (Paik 56); Dowell (May 78) Willumson Anderson; Stansfield (Hanley 90). Unused: BPF; Harris Jutkiewicz.
Tactics
Blues were consistent in their shape, starting with a 4-2-3-1 in which Anderson and Laird held the width with Cochrane helping to form a back three in possession and Dowell having license to float from the right.
Bristol Rovers played a narrow 4-3-3 with O’Donkor up top flanked by Forde and Sotiriou and Sawyers at the base of midfield flanked by Shaw and Butcher.
The hosts were not just narrow as a formation but in their press too, quick to condense the pitch and deny Blues space to play, doing their best to force a mistake or Blues backwards.
Because of this, Blues would look to play backwards and back out to the other side or look early for the switch out to Laird and Anderson, Davies and Allsop quick to play these long raking passes when the opportunity arose.
This led to the first goal. Rovers sat off a little to stop the pass into midfield allowing Davies to make the switch. You can see in the image below that they have six bodies high up the pitch but without the pressure on the ball, it means that the switch can be played and Blues are 4v4 with the Rovers defence.
So when Laird wins the flick-on, Taylor gets drawn out wide. And when Stansfield reaches the loose ball, Wilson gets dragged out. By the time Dowell delivers back into the area, it’s Sawyers and Moore defending the box against Willumson and Anderson. It’s this sort of opportunity Blues were hoping to build on the night, drawing out Rovers defenders and exploiting the space.
Another thing Blues clearly angled for was that when a wide delivery came in, Blues would have a spare man at the far post. This came to fruition with the Laird chance from a Cochrane delivery and also leading to the Anderson chance in the second half when the ball to the back post was just about cut out by Moore. This is where having a front five, essentially, can pay off with the spare men.
In terms of how Rovers wanted to get at Blues, the image below comes from a long ball but also shows what they were trying to do in terms of occupying the Blues defence.
Moore has stepped on, meaning Anderson is drawn back. Forde is closing Cochrane, O’Donkor and Sotiriou are set and Butcher has read that Laird is free. Shaw isn’t far behind and Sawyers gets right up, meaning there are seven players in the Blues half. Forde and Sotiriou would regularly close from outside coming in, forcing Blues to play inside where the opportunity to nick the ball was higher.
The image below leads to the Sotiriou chance and shows this in action again. It’s from a Blues throw-in and Willumson is receiving but is immediately under pressure from Shaw. Butcher steps across to with Sotiriou sitting just in front of Dowell. Laird is left free on the right because they are hoping they can condense the play and stop that ball coming out.
Willumson manages to make a recovery tackle after Butcher turns Leonard. You can see O’Donkor and Sotiriou are already close to Iwata. They were quick to get bodies forward from cheating positions and had the power to cause problems.
In general possession, their approach to play everything forward. They didn’t give Blues a big chance to press the play because they would play forward quickly at every opportunity in order to try and expose any space or lack of pace, which is why O’Donkor would regularly find himself in the channels to draw out Davies and leave space behind.
The right-hand side was a particular strong point for Rovers. Forde was always willing to show out wide with Shaw, O’Donkor and Moore all ready to make a forward run and open up space or receive on the run. Blues weren’t quite quick enough to stop those passes coming in, which forced us to run backwards, not always a strength of ours, particularly down the left where we had Davies, Cochrane and Leonard.
Another thing I want to pick up on with Rovers was set-pieces and blocking. For the opener, Blues are bad defensively, leaving three players at the back but Wilson is smart enough to get a hold of Laird and ensure he’s always on the back foot trying to win the initial header. For the Sotiriou chance, Leonard spots the run but Sawyers steps across him, stopping him from getting back in which allows Sotiriou to get the shot away.
Both sides made changes ahead of the winner.
Bristol Rovers brought Sinclair on for O’Donkor. He entered as the left-sided attacker with Sotiriou leading the line
Blues swapped Laird and Dowell for Sampsted and May. May took the role up top, Anderson moved to the right and Stansfield to the left, ensuring Blues still had natural width and a threat on both flanks.
Two changes were made after the goal.
Hanley replaced Stansfield. Blues moved to 5-4-1 with Anderson on the left, Willumson on the right and May up top. Hanley parked himself between Klarer and Davies at the back.
Taylor moved from centre-back to striker with Rovers adopting a 4-4-2 for the remainder of the game.
Players
Not a comfortable night for the men in black.
Allsop was fine. Anderson was probably our man of the match. Laird was a regular outlet. Dowell had a couple of issues out of possession but was a key component to our good play with it.
A couple to touch on. Firstly, Willum Willumson. I thought he was good Saturday and he looked fresher, having some key involvements. That didn’t follow into Tuesday night. It was one of those games where the ball was always stuck under his feet, he was wrong side of the ball, he couldn’t react. The problem Willumson will always have is that he’s tall, he’s gangly and he will always look awkward, so when it goes badly, it will always look worse. I think he remains in the side because of his height – it's key from set-pieces, let alone general possession as a foil for Stansfield just to receive the ball with his back to goal but he has to be a little bit sharper at times. It’s nights like last night where I feel we miss Lyndon Dykes.
Marc Leonard. A lovely footballer and somebody fans want to see more of. And for the most part, he’s been good when given the opportunity with his passing range comfortably amongst the best in the division. It’s those small details that are separating him to Iwata and Paik at the moment in the eyes of Davies, you feel. He has a tendency to switch off at times, trying little flicks, giving the ball away fairly needlessly and you can see it winds Davies up – his reaction on Saturday to Leonard essentially giving away a throw trying to flick the ball over his head was brutal. I suspect it’s those features, and the fact that he didn’t always come out on top of his duel with teenager Shaw, that led Davies to make the early change and get Paik on the pitch.
Speaking of duels and Leonard, I watched a bit of Kofi Shaw for Yeovil Town earlier in the season and he’s a lively young lad. The two set-pieces he created chances from were impressive and he was a nuisance in midfield. Gatlin O’Donkor is another I watched in the National League and having been one of few positives at our place, he had a really good game here. And finally, I’ll point out Connor Taylor who reminded of the Wycombe centre-halves. Just an absolute giant of a young lad.
Conclusions
A win is a win and it doesn’t really matter how they come at this stage of the season. It’s all about officially winning that promotion now and we’re eight points away from achieving that.
I think Bristol Rovers deserve credit. They need the points and played like a side that needs the points. They reminded me of Reading in the way that they ran their socks off in such an organised press, condensing the pitch, taking gambles without being too naive, playing almost every pass forward and using the power and energy in their side to good effect. On the night, they probably deserved the three points.
But they didn’t take their chances. And it has felt on a couple of occasions this season like a case if you come for the king, you better not miss. A couple of changes, a tweak to the formation, we get our chance and we take it. Job done.
I think Davies deserves credit for those changes. He didn’t hang around to get Paik Seung-Ho on but I’m sure he was looking at his bench and the 4-2-3-1 one he had out there and wondered how he could positively affect the game, knowing those on the bench weren’t likely to positively affect us with like-for-like changes.
Anderson shifts from left to right. Stansfield from up top to wide left. May up top. Sampsted can join in rather than holding the width. Same for Cochrane on the other flank. He found a way to freshen the team up and tweak the shape without abandoning the principles or leaving us obviously weak in any area and it gave us the win. He’s made a habit of such changes this season and it has helped us to the position we are in.
Was it a penalty? I think it was. The grainy image below shows Taylor’s arm away from his body slapping the ball as Stansfield looks to find Willumson free in the area. It’s away from his body. Taylor immediately reacts with his hands in the air which doesn’t help his cause. Always the sign of a guilty man.
Looking ahead to Saturday and Barnsley at home. They’re not in the greatest of form and there is some ill-feeling there, but they remain a top 10 League One side so we have to be on it. I’m not sure many would forgive us not scoring against a defence containing Marc Roberts either.
I’d expect us to go full strength again. I’m assuming that Paik will come back into the starting XI in place of Leonard. There’s potential that Gardner-Hickman, Bielik and Hansson could return but information is scarce on their availability. It would be lovely to have them back and available before the cup final. If they are available, I wonder if they start against Peterborough United the following Tuesday in what could be a very weird game.
KRO.
Great analysis,Ryan, as always.
I thought Leonard was outplayed by Shaw but many of our team were also taken out by very good opponents. They out muscled and out thought us, I'm afraid. O'Donkor and Shaw were excellent, while Anderson was by some distance our best player.
Klarer and Davies knew they'd been in a game.
A clear penalty. The Rovers players had sussed our tactic of initially giving the ball to someone who doesn't take the spot kick. C'est la vie.