The scoreline might suggest otherwise, but for sixty minutes with ten men we were the better side and deserved to take at least a point from the game. As commented above, if the penalty had been scored I think we may well have won the game with the momentum we had at that point. It was a good, spirited performance.
I thought we actually started the game quite brightly, with Lewis forcing a good save from their keeper, but between conceding and the red card we lost the physical battle in midfield against big, physical opposition, not helped by a useless referee who let any kind of manhandling go. I did not see the red card incident, but there were few complaints from the Rovers players.
To give the players some credit, we regrouped well with ten men, holding our own until the break and actually controlling possession and looking the more dangerous of the two sides for the majority of the second half. The referee had an influence on the penalty miss by making Hemmings wait for ages, by which time he was nervous and shot straight down the middle. It seemed to me the keeper got lucky and the ball simply hit his trailing leg. Their second goal was a worldy against the run of play and one of those things.
Individually, I thought O'Connor was man of the match and Bristow, Davies and Doohan had good games. Ross's distribution was excellent and he seems to be growing in confidence now. I also thought Byrne was decent in a back four, which is a positive with both Turnbull and Simeu missing for several games.
The majority of recent performances have been decent and results will turn in due course.