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Josh McEachran of Bristol Rovers in action against MK Dons at the Mem(Image: EFL)<\/p>\nJosh McEachran started and played the full 90 minutes as Bristol Rovers were beaten 4-0 by MK Dons at the Memorial StadiumJosh McEachran of Bristol Rovers in action against MK Dons at the Mem(Image: EFL)<\/p>\n
Bristol Rovers need to put their defeat to MK Dons \u201cright on the training pitch\u201d ahead of the visit of Tranmere Rovers, according to Josh McEachran, with the midfielder labelling the Gas\u2019 back-to-back league defeats as a \u201cbit of a wake-up call.\u201d<\/p>\n
Darrell Clarke\u2019s side suffered their fifth league loss of the season as a flurry of late goals saw them beaten 4-0 by the Dons at the Mem<\/a> on Saturday afternoon. While the scoreline made for grim reading, Rovers conceded three times in the final 10 minutes and stoppage time, having fallen behind early on as a result of an Alfie Kilgour own goal.<\/p>\n The Gas skipper inadvertently turned an Alex Gilbey cross beyond Brad Young<\/a> and into the back of his own net after just eight minutes to open the scoring before each of Laurence Maguire, Gilbey, and Rushian Hepburn-Murphy got their names on the scoresheet in the closing exchanges.<\/p>\n READ MORE: “A shocking day” – Darrell Clarke reacts to poor afternoon as Bristol Rovers downed by Dons<\/a>READ MORE: Bristol Rovers player ratings vs MK Dons: Four-goal rout sinks Gas for back-to-back defeats<\/a><\/p>\n Having gone seven games without defeat prior to last weekend’s loss to Walsall<\/a>, Rovers now find themselves 14th in League Two after losing back-to-back league matches for the first time since August.<\/p>\n Although McEachran felt like the result flattered MK Dons, he – like the majority of supporters – was disappointed with the Gas’ performance and was quick to call for a reaction ahead of another important week for Clarke’s side.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was frustrating,” explained the 32-year-old in his post-match press conference. “I felt like we had a really positive week after the Walsall defeat, we had a good week in training, and then to concede so early was a bit of a kick in the teeth.<\/p>\n “I thought we got going a little bit after that, but not as much as we wanted to. I don\u2019t think we had enough spells where we maintained the pressure on them; it was a little bit too easy for them. At the same time, I don\u2019t feel like a 4-0 defeat.<\/p>\n Bristol Rovers are preparing for a new season in League Two with Darrell Clarke back at the helm and you won’t miss a beat with our free newsletter.<\/p>\n All the latest news, views, interviews, gossip and analysis concerning the Gas, delivered straight to your inbox.<\/p>\n It’s completely free and you can sign up HERE<\/a><\/p>\n “Three set-pieces and they countered late on, but it\u2019s a bit of a wake-up call. Obviously, we went on such a good run and now, two defeats in a row, we need to put that right, get back Monday morning and put it behind us. Obviously, we\u2019re going to be frustrated tonight and tomorrow, but games come around thick and fast in this league, and we need to move on now to Tranmere.”<\/p>\n On the mood in the changing room, he added, “Words are quite cheap; you can\u2019t really say much to the lads, we know what went wrong.<\/p>\n “I think we need to have a day off tomorrow, analyse it ourselves, look at our own performance, then go in Monday morning, analyse it as a team, and put it right on the training pitch.”<\/p>\n Saturday’s game was Rovers’ first league loss at the Mem since their opening-day defeat to Harrogate Town<\/a> more than two months ago. In that time, Clarke’s side have managed to transform their fortunes in BS7, beating the likes of Salford City, Barrow and Cambridge United, whilst also sharing points with Oldham Athletic.<\/p>\n Join Bristol Rovers Live’s Whatsapp community for all the biggest Bristol Rovers stories sent straight to your phone<\/strong><\/p>\n Bristol Rovers Live<\/a> is now on WhatsApp and we want you to join our community.<\/p>\n Through the app, we\u2019ll send the Bristol Rovers news, live match coverage, team news, transfers, fixtures, analysis and more straight to your phone.<\/p>\n To join our community you need to already have WhatsApp. All you need to do is click this link and select \u2018Join Community\u2019.<\/a><\/p>\n No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Bristol Live<\/a> team.<\/p>\n We also treat community members to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. If you don\u2019t like our community, you can check out at any time you like.<\/p>\n To leave our community, click on the name at the top of your screen and choose \u2018Exit group\u2019.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.<\/a><\/p>\n Click here to join our WhatsApp community.<\/a><\/p>\n Fortunately, the busy schedule in England’s fourth tier means that the Gas don’t have too long to wait for their first chance to get back to winning ways in front of their own supporters in the league, as Tranmere make the trip to north Bristol on Saturday afternoon.<\/p>\n Having joined Rovers’ ranks from Oxford United<\/a> during the summer transfer window, McEachran has been impressed by what he’s seen from supporters so far and is eager to reward their loyalty with an improved showing and result this weekend.<\/p>\n \u201cObviously, they started to leave before the end of the game, which is understandable at 3-0, 4-0 down,” the midfielder said on the home crowd. “But they\u2019ve been unbelievable from the first game of the season.<\/p>\n “Obviously, we went three games without a result, but until now, I feel like we\u2019ve really changed the tone in the whole stadium, got them back onside, and I love playing at the Mem. Honestly, it is one of the best atmospheres I\u2019ve played in; you can really feel them getting behind you, so hopefully, we can give them three points next week.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no reason we can\u2019t go on another little run,” McEachran added. “It\u2019s just those small margins at the moment; we were so unlucky with the second goal.<\/p>\n “It\u2019s just those minor details that we need to get right and put that right on Monday.”<\/p>\n READ MORE: Bristol Rovers 0-4 MK Dons recap: Late Dons onslaught means back-to-back league losses for Gas<\/a>READ MORE: Every word Darrell Clarke said on MK Dons, 20-year Bristol Rovers record, and Lockyer situation<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Josh McEachran started and played the full 90 minutes as Bristol Rovers were beaten 4-0 by MK Dons…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":496493,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8818],"tags":[381,2707,748,393,4884,89503,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-496492","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bristol","8":"tag-bristol","9":"tag-bristol-rovers-fc","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-josh-mceachran","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115367648602097944","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=496492"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496492\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/496493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=496492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=496492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=496492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/20250513_DCSigns_WC063-copy.jpg\")
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