IT WAS a frustrating afternoon at the Memorial Stadium on Saturday as Rovers dropped two points that were there for the taking against struggling Northampton Town.

The Gas started the game brightly and put their opponents under pressure from the first minute.

We were playing some decent football, passing it around well and aiming to create openings. The Cobblers looked a poor side, offering few attacking ideas in response as they tried to hold firm against our possession.

We gained our reward in the 34th minute as Bennett, who was at the heart of all our best moves throughout the game, was in the right place at the right time as he pounced on a rebound from Harrison’s shot to slot the ball in the net.

Sadly we only managed that one goal in a half we had dominated. We should have been two or three goals up but failed to conjure up enough clear-cut chances to turn our superiority into goals.

Defensively we looked solid and our midfield was running the show, with Lines pulling the strings from deep. Gaffney was working hard but with little to show for it, while Harrison was having a quieter game than usual, highlighting the need to recruit extra firepower in the summer.

The second half was a more tepid affair as Northampton started to sense they could get something from the game.

Sure enough we were made to regret not adding to the scoreline as they took advantage of some sloppy defending to cross the ball into the box and Lockyer was outjumped by Luckassen who headed in.

Despite our best efforts we could not respond with a goal and the dismissal of a Northampton player with a quarter of an hour to go made no difference.

The players could not be faulted for their efforts but we could not find that quality in front of goal to give us the victory our play deserved.

The draw moved us up a place to ninth, four points off the play offs.

Rovers will need to be at their best for the trip to Plymouth Argyle on Saturday if play-off hopes are to be maintained.