Sunderland boss Alex Neil spotted in stands for Bristol Rovers defeat to Barnsley

Sunderland boss Alex Neil was in attendance at Oakwell Stadium last night.
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Bristol Rovers have had a mixed start to life back in League One, picking up two wins and two defeats in their opening fixtures.

Their latest clash with Barnsley ended miserably for The Gas as they were thrashed 3-0 at Oakwell Stadium.

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While it is one to forget for Rovers, one familiar face that will have enjoyed the scoreline is Sunderland boss Alex Neil, who was in attendance at the match.

The Black Cats travelled down to South Yorkshire ahead of tonight’s tie with Sheffield United and Neil used his night off as a chance to watch his former club in action.

The Scot spent four years with the Tykes in the early stages of his playing career, making 142 appearances before moving to Mansfield Town.

Joey Barton certainly won’t have wished Neil luck for their upcoming match if they met at Oakwell, with the former Newcastle United midfielder previously making his feelings about Sunderland clear.

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“We’ve got no complaints, we were not good enough,” he said. “We were caught cold. I don’t know whether it was the deluge or whatever, but the lads were 1-0 down after three minutes.

“A shocking goal to give away and we didn’t really settle at all, doing some bizarre things in terms of managing the game and playing the conditions. “We were second best in every department and that is very rare for our boys. Usually, two or three of them will dig something out and force a performance but tonight we were really poor.”

Bristol Rovers sit tenth after four games and will be looking to add to their points tally as they travel to Portsmouth this weekend.

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