‘Need new players ASAP’ - Bristol Rovers reaction to opening loss to Forest Green

There was a common theme from the Bristol Rovers faithful following the opening day 2-1 loss with Forest Green Rovers on Saturday afternoon.

Regan Hendry, a threat for FGR, clinched the win for the Nailsworth side after last season’s top scorer Aaron Collins, scored against his former club to respond to Jordan Moore-Taylor’s opener for the away side.

Rovers were without Josh Grant and Sam Finley, both absent through injury, as well as club captain Paul Coutts, who was serving a suspension with a further two games to go.

Joey Barton ended up making two substitutions from a possible five with plenty pointing out the lack of squad depth. There were even some calls from the home crowd to bring on newly appointed coach Glenn Whelan, who was named on the bench in the event he was needed.

There are some things to improve on ahead of the trip to Burton Albion this coming Saturday, but as time winds down on the match, here’s how the Gas fans have reacted to the performance.

Jon Foulkes appearing on BBC Radio Bristol in their post-match debrief said: ‘I think you could see we missed Coutts (Paul) and Finley (Sam) in the middle.

‘With Rossiter (Jordan)’s first game, he was a little bit lost. With Westbrooke (Zain) he needs someone like a Coutts next to him to just to maybe give him some guidance as he was a little bit lost.

“There is definitely a player there. I am not going to be too downbeat, it’s the first game of the season. We know the curse as Gasheads.

“The two players I’m really excited about are Gibbons (James) and Clarke (Trevor) at right and left-back. They looked really exciting today going forward.”

Also appearing on BBC Radio Bristol, supporter Chris Wathan added: “The second-half certainly defined what happened in the end, didn’t it? It was a very frustrating day. We started so well and they came back in to it, fair play to them.

“I’m not gonna let game one define a whole 46, it’s just the first of many.”

Meanwhile on Twitter, there was a slightly different offering of opinions who picked apart the performance of some individuals.

@Brfc_Josh: “Gutted. We missed Coutts and Finley massively but we move on to next week.

@BillyFranciss: “Loft, Rossiter & Westbrooke all poor. Early days however.”

@JonerJones84: “Work to do on the training pitch. Thought they played through us with ease and the lack of tracking runners was painful to watch and a bit worrying. Saunders was the out ball but didn’t utilise him. On to the next one.”

@SamfootballSam: “Need a big strong centre back who’s played at least in league 1 or above to help the young uns out UTG.”

@1_henshall: “Not great but we’re short on players. CBs and wingers needed quickly.”

@JakeB2021: “Waters wet. Need new players asap.”

@dkl5341: “Well short today ! Need some transfer magic …. Missed Coutts / Finley …. Don’t panic yet.”

@LiamNNoble: “A cb has never been needed so bad.”

@_JoshuaHemmings: “Unfortunately the squad looks thin and we just didn’t create enough chances. We will improve.”