ROVERS’ hopes of making the play-offs suffered a blow after a disappointing defeat at Coventry City on Saturday.

More than 4,000 Gasheads made the trip to the Midlands hoping to see us claim three points against the bottom of the table side, but left disappointed at a below-par performance.

Darrell Clarke sprang a surprise before the game by leaving Leadbitter and Montano on the bench, given that they are two attack-minded players and we had to go for the victory.

We were pushing forward, however, but to no avail as chances went begging. The Sky Blues were also looking to build on their recent win and extend their mini-resurgence under new manager Mark Robins as they too created opportunities but failed to put them away.

It was goalless at half-time and Clarke made immediate changes as we searched for the breakthrough, with Leadbitter replacing James Clarke in defence and Moore coming on for Gaffney. As Gaffney has been enjoying a good run of form and has rediscovered his goalscoring touch, it was also a surprise to see him make way.

Efforts by Ollie Clarke and Lockyer were kept out as the match looked like it was heading towards a frustrating stalemate.

But Coventry took the lead in the 80th minute to ensure the Pirates headed back down the M5 empty-handed.

The display did not meet the high standards set by Clarke and his team as we failed to create enough clear-cut chances to win the game and were not at our best.

The defeat leaves Rovers in ninth place, six points off the play-offs, with six games left to play. Realistically, we would have to win five of those to have a chance of sneaking into the top six.

But a top ten finish would still be a brilliant achievement this season and we just need to keep going to pick up as many points as we can.

We will look to get back to winning ways as Shrewsbury visit the Mem on Saturday.