Bristol Rovers came from 3-0 down to draw 4-4 against Tottenham U21s in the EFL Trophy before winning the penalty shootout

Daniel Hargraves Bristol Rovers reporter

23:00, 26 Aug 2025Updated 23:08, 26 Aug 2025

Bristol Rovers assistant head coach Rhys Carr(Image: MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Bristol Rovers earned two points from their first group stage game in the EFL Trophy after a hectic 4-4 draw against Tottenham Hotspur Under-21s at the Mem, followed by a 5-4 victory in the resulting penalty shootout.

Rovers found themselves 3-0 down by the 16th minute which later prompted Darrell Clarke to bring off defender Dan Ellison, who was making his competitive Gas debut, for midfielder Kamil Conteh in a tactical switch.

The Pirates managed to get a goal back before half-time through Ellis Harrison before substitute Fabrizio Cavegn, who replaced Harrison at half-time, bagged his first Rovers goal in the second half.

Spurs added a fourth before going down to 10 men after goalkeeper Samual Archer was sent off for clattering into Ryan Howley who was through on goal. Isaac Hutchinson scored directly from the resulting free-kick.

Cavegn then netted his second of the night to equalise with Rovers having a number of chances to win the game. Instead the tie went to a penalty shootout to decide who would earn the extra point. Spot kicks from Cavegn, Luke Thomas, Hutchinson, Kamil Conteh and Taylor Moore saw the Gas victorious.

Rovers assistant head coach Rhys Carr spoke to the media post-match. Here’s a full transcript of everything he said…

READ MORE: Bristol Rovers 4-4 Tottenham Hotspur Under-21s (5-4 pens) recap: Gas earn points in crazy tieI think in my 25 years at BBC Radio Bristol, that’s the first 4-4 I’ve commentated on. Are you able to unpick that game? It was a crazy evening.

I’ve had one in my first six games so I’m up on you already there. We were really disappointed with the start. There isn’t any shying away from that. In a game of professional football, you can’t find yourself 3-0 down in that amount of time. It’s not acceptable.

To spin a positive then, the little bit of character the lads showed in the second half to grab the game by the scruff of the neck and tilt the result in our favour.

We always want to be better and we have to be better than how we started the game tonight.

Simplistically, was it the change in formation coupled by Kamil coming on that helped start to turn the tide?

A little bit. A little bit of a tweak tactically, but we also had a bit more energy in the second half, I felt, and getting after them a little bit more. We were able to do that and a little bit of higher pressure and stop some of their forward play, stop their overload in the middle of the park.

But the X’s and O’s of the game are irrelevant if the energy isn’t in there and they’re trying to get in people’s spaces so a little bit tactical and bit of energy as well.

When you took Dan off was that tactical or a slight knock?

We felt as if we were getting done in the middle of the park a little bit, so we wanted an extra body in there. We felt like we perhaps controlled it a little better after that change.

Dan’s young; he’s learning. The things that Dan does really, really well, he does very, very well. He defends the box, the balls in the box. You think back to the Oxford game, how well he did heading balls out of our box, but tonight we needed to change things.

We’re three down, you can’t foolishly carry on going on into the game at 3-0 down after 20-odd minutes. So we needed a change.

I appreciate that they were down to 10 men, but you could have scored more than four goals tonight.

Yeah, definitely. I’d like to see a few of the offsides back. I felt like a few of them were onside. Their line was so high, so a little bit of our timings of the run, a little of the decisions going against us on the offsides. But yeah, we certainly created chances and could have scored a couple more. It is pleasing to be that far down and to come back and ultimately win the game.

Of course it is and you want to win games of football, but like I say, we as coaches, we want the team to be organised and we want players to be better. That’s our job, to make them better. So there’s a lot of learning from that tonight.

We spoke to Fabrizio last week, keen to get up and running, so is that the positive that he gets two goals tonight?

Yeah he’s done great. I was just saying over there, he’s a young lad, he’s moved to a new country and met new people, but when he gets on the pitch he wants to score goals. The game’s the same. There’s two goals at either end and there’s a ball in the middle and he’s trying to stick it in the back of the net. He did that well tonight.

He has done really well for us, not just with his goals tonight but also with the energy he’s bringing, some of his out of possession work is relentless, we want that, so yeah, really pleased for him.

I don’t think Brad did a lot wrong, I mean, conceding four goals, so nice for him to end his evening on a high by saving that penalty.

Definitely. He’s a really good character, Brad. He is a good goalkeeper and he’s a good character as well. Him and Luke [Southwood] are always pushing each other in training. I just said to him before, the shootsout are moments designed for goalkeepers to go and become a hero and he did well.

And the fact is you’ve got two points rather than one and that could stand you in good stead with two games to go left in the group stages.

Ultimately we want to win games of football and you can come away and go, ‘oh you’ve won the game.’ Alright, my overwhelming feeling at the moment is disappointed with the start, but yeah, we won the game and that’s what we want do with this club.

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And now prep for Grimsby. I mean, did everyone get through unscathed because there were one or two knocks? Ryan, for example, with the ribs?

Yeah, we’ll have to look at things like in any game, but the players, the job that we’re asking them to do on the pitch is be fully committed, so you’re going to get bumps and bruises after a game if you’re fully committed in it. So that’s just part and part of the course, it’s the nature of the game. So we’ll look at it, we will assess it, but we’ve got a few days now to prep for Grimsby Saturday.

And Darrell, keen to add to the squad? Can we anticipate some recruitment between now and Saturday?

Yeah, the window’s active isn’t it? There’s so much going on at every club down the country so we always want to strengthen, we want to improve the club, we want to progress the club, but ultimately there’s other clubs that are trying to do the same as well so we’ve just got to be ready to move on things.

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What do you put that lack of energy in the first half down to? Some would suggest that perhaps the fact that the opposition were an Under-21s side might come into it?

Definitely not that at all. We spoke about wanting to be aggressive, wanting to be physical. I didn’t feel like that was there in the opening moments. It felt a little bit open at times and I’m sure people would have seen that with their own eyes and I am sure the players would have felt that too. So no, it certainly wasn’t to do with that being an Under-21 team. We’re a pretty young group out there as well.

Ellis came off at half-time. I assume it was always the plan to give him one half?

Yeah, Ellis is an important player for us. He’s got one tonight, he got one on the weekend. He’s going to be a big, important player for us across the season. He’s playing catch up to some of the others because he came in a little bit later. So yeah, more minutes in his legs, a little more sharpness and good for him to get his goal.

As a coach, is there an element of relief perhaps that there’s no midweek game for a while now especially as you mentioned with quite a few players still playing catch-up?

Definitely. We want to work with this group. They’re a group that’s really open to wanting support and challenge and that’s the environment we want. We want it to be high challenge, high support and with the clear weeks that we’ll have now that we’re going into we’ve got already a bit of a planning and strategy for the work that we want to do in that time and certainly a clear week gives you more opportunity to do that. So yeah, we’re looking forward to that.

Lastly, just a word for young Tom English who made his first team debut tonight?

Yes, it’s brilliant, isn’t it? I’m a father of two boys who are in academy systems and he’ll go away, probably won’t sleep tonight, really excited, and you know that’s brilliant for him. It’s a proud moment for him, a proud one for his family, but then also hopefully he’s got a little bit of a flavour to think, ‘oh, I like that and I need to work double hard now to make sure I get another opportunity’ because they can’t be given in the game. They’ve got to be earned.

READ MORE: Bristol Rovers player ratings vs Tottenham U21s: Cavegn gets brace in bonkers EFL Trophy draw