Coughlan thrilled with Rovers win but felt it was ‘tougher than it needed to be’

Bristol Rovers boss Graham Coughlan was delighted with his side but felt they made their 2-1 win at Southend “tougher than it needed to be”.

First-half goals from Liam Sercombe and Gavin Reilly secured all three points for the Pirates, who now sit just above the League One relegation zone.

And Coughlan, who spent eight years with the Shrimpers prior to joining Rovers in the summer, was thrilled with the display.

“I was delighted with the character, the spirit and the determination,” said Coughlan.

“I’m delighted with the effort and the will to win too.

“Now I could stand here and argue about the quality, the missed chances and the goal against because we made it a lot tougher than it needed to be but it’s the area of the table we’re in.

“But the boys are flying and it’s great to be around them at the moment.”

The Pirates are now 20th in the table and have not been beaten in their last five away games.

“We’ve been OK away from home, it’s at home where we’ve had issues,” said Coughlan.

“But we stuck to the game-plan really well and there’s a lot of positivity in that changing room at the moment.”

The Pirates came close to taking the lead after just nine minutes when Southend goalkeeper Nathan Bishop denied Ollie Clarke and Reilly with a stunning double save.

But, in the 20th minute, Rovers broke the deadlock with Sercombe firing home after Tom Nichols had beaten Bishop to the ball.

Rovers doubled their lead in the 32nd minute with Reilly rolling home a controlled left-footed shot after being sent clean through by Nichols.

Southend got back into the game in the 39th minute with Simon Cox tapping home after Pirates goalkeeper Jack Bonham had parried out a long-range shot from Dru Yearwood.

But the Pirates stood firm in the second half and came close to making it 3-1 when Reilly slammed a well-struck shot against the crossbar.

In reply, the Shrimpers saw an effort from Cox disallowed for offside as they slumped to their ninth home defeat of the league season, much to the frustration of manager Chris Powell.

“The fans have every right to be unhappy and for us to be 2-0 down wasn’t good enough,” said Powell.

“We looked afraid and nervous and we shouldn’t be like that at home. We need to be a whole lot better.

“I don’t know if we’re getting edgy at home. It’s understandable to a point but if you start on the front foot then the fans go with you.

“There’s a small crumb of comfort in the way we responded in the second half but we’ve been beaten at home again.

“This should be where we’re happiest and where we put teams under pressure but it seems to be the other way round with us at the moment and that’s not good enough.”