Angry Garner apologises to frustrated Rovers fans

Posted Sunday, March 01, 2020 by PA

Ben Garner apologised to Bristol Rovers fans after seeing his team booed off at the end of a 1-0 home defeat to Shrewsbury.

Daniel Udoh grabbed the only goal for the visitors on 69 minutes, finding the net with a low 20-yard drive after a strong run by Ro-Shaun Williams.

It meant Rovers have now won just once in 17 games, 16 of them since Garner replaced Graham Coughlan as manager.

He said: “I apologise to every one of our supporters at the game. Our performance was not nearly good enough and I am angry and frustrated.

“We worked on certain things in training this week and I didn’t see any of them implemented.

“I accept full responsibility, but I need to know why what we do in training is night and day to what we are producing in games.

“There is a long-term plan in what we are trying to do, but in the meantime there are minimum standards we have to maintain and we didn’t reach them today.

“We have had games where we haven’t got what we deserved, but today the performance was really poor and we didn’t deserve anything. I didn’t see it coming.

“I have told the players I am going home to take a long hard look at myself in the mirror and that they should do the same.”

Shrewsbury deserved the points from a game dominated by a strong wind and offering precious little in terms of entertainment.

Their manager Sam Ricketts said: “It was an important win because the last six weeks have been very tough for us.

“Our FA Cup run was great but meant a hectic schedule and our league form suffered. Performances have been OK, but the players lost that extra edge we had in the first half of the season.

“Today it was a poor game, but we have produced the one moment of quality. For once the ball was kept on the ground and the finish was out of all context with the rest of the match.

“Conditions played a big part, but we should have scored in the first half and created more chances than Rovers.

“Max O’Leary has really had only one save to make, so I’m pleased with how we protected our lead and the effort shown by the team.

“It was good to see our supporters in a happier mood. Hopefully, we can draw renewed confidence from the result and push on from here.”

Rovers goalkeeper Jamal Blackman kept his side in the game with first-half saves from Udoh and Callum Lang but had little chance with Udoh’s match-winning strike.