Development manager John Schofield says his side were unlucky not to come away with anything from their Central League North fixture against Bradford City at Apperley Bridge training Ground.
The Bantams ran out 3-2 winners on a wet and windy afternoon in Bradford, and Schofield says despite the loss that his side’s energy and pressing was very impressive.
“The quality of play and the chances we created were brilliant, it is leading us where we want to be and I thought that we were unlucky not to come away with anything from the game,” he said.
“We created some great chances before the break and it is important the chances we create are turned into goals, and we started positively which saw Liam Mandeville and Issam Ben Khemis have shots saved before Reece Fielding opened the scoring.
“We like to start on the front foot in games and make sure that we press our opponents and that actually comes from Darren Ferguson, he likes the whole club to have the same ethos when it comes to being aggressive. “
Rovers began the game on top and were almost rewarded with the first goal of the game after 10 minutes, an individual effort from Ben Khemis saw the midfielder try and chip goalkeeper George Skykes-Kenworthy, but the Bantams number one did well to tip the shot wide.
However, from the following corner Rovers did take the lead, a driven cross from Tyler Garratt was perfectly met by the towering head of Fielding to nod Schofield’s side into the lead.
Rovers continued their dominance and nearly doubled their lead shortly after getting their first, some nice build up play from Mandeville and Craig Alcock saw the ball fall to Ben Khemis who forced a tidy 1-on-1 save from Sykes-Kenworthy in the Bradford goal.
The hosts began to get a foothold in the game after the half-hour mark and came close to levelling the scoring, a cross from the right looked to be forced home by Joel Grodowski but Tyler Walker cleared off the line to keep Rovers’ lead in-tact.
Grodowski would not be denied though as a ball over the top was picked up by the striker, before cheekily lifting the ball over the head of the on-rushing Marko Marosi to bring the scores back level eight minutes before the break.
Two goals in eight second half minutes changed the course of the game for Bradford, first a mistake on the edge of his own by Craig Alcock was capitalised on by Jordan Gibson who pocked the ball past Marosi to give the Bantams the lead, before full-back Ellis Hudson made it 3-1 after 53 minutes.
Four minutes later, Rovers had a goal of their own, some individual brilliance from Mandeville created some space for Morgan James who expertly side-footed the ball into the back of the net with his weaker left foot.
Schofield’s side continued to battle hard in the second period but could have gone 4-2 down with six minutes of the game remaining, a foul by Alcock on substitute Reece Webb-Foster gave the referee no choice but to award a spot kick.
Webb-Foster decided to take the kick himself but Marosi produced a brilliant penalty save down to his left before quickly reacting to the rebound.