ROVERS suffered a disappointing defeat on their return to League One at the hands of Scunthorpe on Saturday.

The game started well for the Pirates as Taylor opened his account for the season in the 31st minute, showing his now-customary sharp instincts in front of goal.

The Iron reasserted themselves in the second half and gained an equaliser. A draw would not have been a bad outcome from a tough looking fixture, as Scunthorpe only just missed out on the play-offs last season.

But our opponents continued to push forward and ensured they took maximum points with two more goals in the last 10 minutes.

Although the Iron’s goals were excellent finishes, some of our defending could have been better as balls into the box could have been cleared more effectively and players could have been closed down more quickly as they honed in on the Gas goal.

However it is early days and no need for panic as we lost the first game of the season last year but things didn’t turn out too badly.

It was a surprise that Clarke left Bodin on the bench, given the creative flair and goalscoring threat he offers, but it otherwise looked a strong side that I believe can compete well in League One.

The manager has said he would like to bring in two or three extra players to strengthen the squad but quite rightly he will not rush into making any new signings.

The first few games of the campaign will give him the chance to see how his team performs and whether, as he put it, the players will ‘sink or swim’.

With three home games now coming up, starting off with the televised EFL Cup first round clash with Cardiff City at the Memorial Stadium on Thursday (7.45pm), he will have time to judge how they adjust to the demands of this division and where any weaknesses lie.

We will be aiming to get our first league win of the season at home to Oxford on Sunday (3pm), to set us up for a home encounter with Bolton Wanderers next Wednesday.