‘Difficult’ - What Joey Barton said about frustrating Bristol Rovers loss to Burton Albion

Joey Barton admits his Bristol Rovers side are in a tough moment after suffering a 2-1 defeat to Burton Albion, despite taking the lead.

John Marquis put the Gas in front, but Charlie Kirk equalised for the Brewers late in to the second-half, and then Sam Winnall scored in the 55th minute to give the men from Staffordshire all three points. Rovers failed to respond and did not trouble the goalkeeper in the second-half, and had to consign themselves to a sixth defeat in seven matches.

The defeat puts Barton's side in to 15th, and they now without a win since January 8, with 11 points separating them and 21st-placed MK Dons. Aspirations of competing in the end of season play-offs look to have gone away with 18 points between them and Barnsley in sixth.

"It’s a tough moment for us as a group at the minute," began Barton. The lads are lower on confidence than you’d like. We get a great start and are playing really well. We possibly should have got a second and third.

We had a break in play and we didn’t seem to recover after that. A long punt down the pitch wasn’t dealt with and a team that created nothing find themselves 1-1 in the game.

"I think that just ate in to the lads confidence. Second-half they kept trying and having a go. We lacked a lot of quality today, and we’re in a tough moment. We’ve just got to keep scrapping."

Burton's equaliser came through Rovers missing an opportunity to double their lead. Jarell Quansah's header went over the bar, and that allowed Craig MacGillivray to punt the ball forward, which caught out the Rovers defence which were trying to get back to their positions. Substitute Kirk was left with the task of beating Ellery Balcome in a one-on-one, and he duly obliged with a composed finish.

Sam Winnall's winning goal compiled the misery on Rovers, who had been dealt a blow in the build-up to the game with several players affected with illness during the week. A positive performance against Ipswich could not be built on, with some of those influential in Tuesday's draw, either having to drop to the bench, and others having to play on and not be at 100%.

He said: "Goals change games and it’s Murphy’s Law for us at the moment. A three-game week and we have a bout of illness that rips through the group.

"Defenders not dealing with things. We get up in the game which we want to be, and then manage to somehow lose a game. It’s frustrating and difficult, we had a good spell in the middle part of the season, and we’ve got a bit of breathing room, hopefully correct this course at the moment and start looking back up the table."