Winger 'Ful' of praise for teammates after second half improvement.
Rovers stalwart James Coppinger has said that the side can take a lot of confidence from an impressive second half showing against Fulham at Craven Cottage last night.Though the visitors lost 2-1 to their higher level opponents, Rovers could – and probably should – have forced extra time.
“It was a game of two halves and although that’s a cliché, in the first half we were nowhere near them and they were deservedly 2-0 up,” opened Coppinger.
“In the second half though I thought we were superb, we got a goal and a penalty and unfortunately for us we’ve lost the game but that second half was the best we’ve played.
“We came here like we did at Watford and did exactly the same in giving a good account of ourselves but it wasn’t to be.“
Coppinger’s first goal of the season breathed life back in to the tie and only Marcus Bettinelli’s smart save from Theo Robinson’s penalty kick denied Rovers the chance of progressing through the competition.
“It’s been coming. I’m due one every ten games at the moment. I made a conscious effort to try and score more goals but it’s been frustrating and hopefully there’s more to follow.
“We didn’t want to go out in a whimper and let the confidence suffer by going in to Saturday’s game (against Walsall) on a downer but we picked it up second half and we go in to Saturday with a lot of confidence as we showed spirit, created a lot of chances and we go there hoping for the three points.”