ROVERS slumped to another defeat on the road on Saturday, losing 3-1 at Fleetwood Town.

It continued our poor run away from home and was the fifth consecutive loss, in stark contrast to our excellent displays at the Memorial Stadium.

It was apparent we would be facing an uphill task as Fleetwood took the lead as early as the 13th minute, and added to it with their second in the 23rd minute.

The first was a decent strike but the second exposed some glaring deficiencies at the back. The defenders failed to clear the ball, while long-terms concerns over the goalkeeping position were highlighted again as Puddy did not command his area and nullify the danger.

The Pirates rallied in a bid to get back into the game, and got our reward in the second half as another wonderful strike from Bodin reduced the deficit.

Hopes were then raised that we could complete a stirring comeback and gain at least a point, but it wasn’t to be as Fleetwood made sure of the victory with their third in the 82nd minute.

It was always likely to be a tough encounter, as the win extended Fleetwood’s unbeaten run to 13 games and lifted them into the play-off places.

But the defeat reinforced the view that improvements are needed before Rovers can be seriously regarded as promotion contenders.

We are still in ninth position, four points off the play-offs, so there is no need to panic, particularly as our home form has been so impressive, and a top ten finish this season would be more than satisfactory.

The signing last week of defender Joe Partington from Eastleigh, where he was player of the season last year, should improve the back four. No doubt Clarke is continuing to look at other prospects to see who is available to improve the squad.

We are in for another tough test at Walsall on Saturday, who enjoyed a stunning 4-1 home win against Sheffield United on Saturday.

The players will need to raise their game and tighten up at the back to ensure we do not return empty-handed again.