![\"Darrell](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1_Clarke.jpg\")
Darrell Clarke Manager of Bristol Rovers applauds the supporters during the Sky Bet League 2 Match between Bristol Rovers and Gillingham at Memorial Stadium. Photo: Kara Thomas\/PPAUK(Image: Photo: Kara Thomas\/PPAUK)<\/p>\nDarrell Clarke and Bristol Rovers lost their fifth consecutive League Two match despite creating numerous chances at The MemDarrell Clarke Manager of Bristol Rovers applauds the supporters during the Sky Bet League 2 Match between Bristol Rovers and Gillingham at Memorial Stadium. Photo: Kara Thomas\/PPAUK(Image: Photo: Kara Thomas\/PPAUK)<\/p>\n
Darrell Clarke expressed his frustration at Bristol Rovers\u2019<\/a> finishing in their 1-0 defeat against Gillingham. The Gas created numerous chances in the afternoon but were unable to find a way past Jake Turner in the opposition goal.<\/p>\n The first-half saw both teams go close, with Stephan Negru missing a gilt-edged chance in the 36th minute and the goalscorer, Max Clark, missing from the penalty spot.<\/p>\n Clark\u2019s second-half effort was the only goal of the game, as the Gills moved up to sixth. Meanwhile, the defeat is Rovers\u2019 fifth in a row in League Two<\/a>, leaving them 17th after 15 games. In that timeframe, the Gas have only scored two goals and Clarke acknowledged that the lack of killer edge in the final third is something that is holding the team back.<\/p>\n READ MORE: Bristol Rovers player ratings vs Gillingham: Max Clark strike enough to beat the Gas<\/a>READ MORE: Bristol Rovers boss Darrell Clarke outlines Tom Lockyer plans as defender returns to full fitness<\/a><\/p>\n He said: \u201cI thought the performance at times was decent, but we don’t want the hard luck stories. We have to do better in the final third. We dominated large parts of the game – [we] have to be better with our forward-thinking play at times to create more opportunities, although we’ve created enough opportunities to obviously score a few goals today.<\/p>\n \u201cBut we haven’t taken that and the same as I said to my players, it’s 25% more, I’ve got to come from my forward-thinking players, end of, because I thought the build was good, we controlled the possession, and then when we get to the final third, I need players to be firing a lot better than what we are.\u201d<\/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 Rovers managed to get themselves into positive attacking positions throughout the game, registering 18 shots to Gillingham\u2019s seven. The hosts also had over 70% possession but left the Memorial Stadium empty-handed.<\/p>\n When asked about the build-up play of his team, Clarke said: \u201cI think that [the] build is good, I think we get ourselves in situations where we get an opportunity to put crosses in the box, we’re looking after transitions, and then we’re getting at their backline and we have 12 corners today. Yes, we haven’t got that physicality about us today, but 12 corners, numerous opportunities, and we don’t take them.\u201d<\/p>\n He added: “When you play games like that, it’s about putting the ball in the back of the net, which we’re not doing in the final third. We’re not getting enough, at the minute, out of those players and we need to be working on them. I need to get them positive, which I will do and we get working how we do.”<\/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 The main positive in the first-half was Luke Southwood\u2019s<\/a> penalty save to deny Clark. Southwood stayed central to keep out the Gillingham left-back after Clinton Mola was deemed to have fouled Sam Gale at the backpost from a corner.<\/p>\n Clarke expressed his annoyance at the decision to award a penalty by the referee Alan Young. He said: “I mean, the referee\u2019s penalty decision is a shocker. You don’t see the pulling of the shirts in our box. He’s had an absolute nightmare, in my opinion, and his assistants don’t help him.\u201d<\/p>\n Rovers are back in action on Tuesday night when they face Plymouth Argyle<\/a> in the EFL Trophy. A win against the Pilgrims would mean the Gas top their group after already progressing to the knockout stage.<\/p>\n When speaking about Tuesday and the task ahead, Clarke said: \u201cAs well as I said to the boys, it was a better performance. For me, we have to stay consistent and make sure that on Tuesday night – we\u2019ll be strong Tuesday night – we\u2019ll be ready to have a go Tuesday night to make sure we put on a better performance and get the result.”<\/p>\n READ MORE: Stephan Negru discusses dealing with injury setbacks and his excitement to make home debut<\/a>READ MORE: Darrell Clarke proud of Bristol Rovers\u2019 mentality in win at Bromley<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Darrell Clarke and Bristol Rovers lost their fifth consecutive League Two match despite creating numerous chances at The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":558221,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8818],"tags":[381,2707,748,46615,393,82550,4884,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-558220","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-darrell-clarke","12":"tag-england","13":"tag-football-league-2","14":"tag-great-britain","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115516724505725749","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558220","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=558220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558220\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/558221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=558220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=558220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=558220"}],"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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Luke Southwood of Bristol Rovers saves a penalty from Max Clark of Gillingham during the Sky Bet League 2 Match between Bristol Rovers and Gillingham at Memorial Stadium on 19 August 2025. Photo: Kara Thomas\/PPAUK<\/p>\n