Bristol Rovers head coach Inigo Calderon was downcast after his side’s sixth home defeat in Sky Bet League One this season, with Mansfield taking the points home from a 2-1 victory at the Memorial Stadium.
The Gas shot themselves in the foot with big errors gifting two goals to the opposition in a battle with their relegation rivals.
First, Rovers goalkeeper Jed Ward misplaced a pass in the first minute as on-loan forward Caylan Vickers capitalised for the opener.
The lead lasted 25 minutes as Pirates midfielder Romaine Sawyers swept a low shot into the far corner from the edge of the area – set up by Shaq Forde – for his first goal for the Gas, before Stags substitute Dom Dwyer won the game following Connor Taylor’s poor back pass to Ward.
After three defeats in a row – with seven League One games left to play – the heat is on for Calderon’s team, with Rovers just one place above the drop zone.
“We made our life difficult. It’s the worst thing to start like that (conceding in the first minute and after an error),” said Calderon.
“But we thought it was not enough and made our life even more difficult in the second half (conceding after Taylor’s errant pass to Ward).
“These kind of goals can kill you when you’re down there. And you can think ‘wow, it’s not our day’.
“They are big mistakes but I always expect mistakes all over the pitch. I don’t know if it was pressure (that led to the players’ mistakes) but we have to deal with that better and to be stronger.
“We have to be stronger mentally and don’t disappear in games.”
Mansfield manager Nigel Clough discussed his match-winning substitution as the 59-year-old’s football intuition proved correct.
The former England, Liverpool, Nottingham Forest and Manchester City forward made a change at the break, replacing goalscorer Vickers with United States forward Dwyer. An inspired decision, as the 34-year-old scored the winning goal.
He said: “Apart from the goal, I didn’t think that Caylan contributed too much. It was a difficult game for him today – there was a lot of physicality.
“It was more about your headers, your tackles and your running and things like that today, rather than a little bit of skill.
“So we moved Will Evans out on the left and I just fancied Dom to get us a goal.”
But Clough was unhappy at how his side conceded and believes his team must improve to finish the campaign on a high.
“The goal that they scored against us reminded me of the one that Wrexham scored against us earlier in the season,” added Clough.
“We’ve got to get tighter to them there. It’s 22 yards out but we’re not tight enough to get a challenge in.
“Brilliant strike and everything. You can’t let people get free shots off. We talk about it and work on it all the time.”
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