Rovers ended a long winless run on Saturday when they overcame a sticky start to see off bottom placed Badshot Lea by 3-0, thus completing a first league double of the season.
Rovers made three changes to the side that had lost against Kingstonian in midweek, Rovers made three changes to their start, Daniel Williamson came in for his debut, and there were recalls for both Troy Walters and Noah Africa. Emmanuel Kwatchey and Osaretin Otete joined the ever increasing injury list, and Cam Dobell dropped to the bench.
The visitors, still looking for their first win of the season, made a bright start and should have taken the lead on four minutes. A ball down the left found Jack Timberlake and he got beyond Bert Lloyd and his low cross to the back post was fired wide by Baback Dehghani. Callum Wiltshire then went down in a dangerous area to give Badshot a free kick in a dangerous area, which a stretching Lloyd was able to head clear.
Our first half chance came on eight minutes when good pressure by Africa and Williamson led to the ball dropping to Walters but his effort from 40 yards (similar to his goal at Badshot) was easily gathered by Harry Cawdron.
Badshot continued to hold the upper hand and after Joe Lewis had done well on the left, a half clearance found David Garlinge but his shot was straight at Kacper Orlowski, and at the other end Christian Gyamfi and Stallard linked up well to set up Daniel Pepple but his shot was deflected behind for a corner. From the corner Gyamfi put a free header over the bar. Evangelos Empochontsif headed a fierce effort from Kai Allsopp away as Badshot were continuing to waste chances.
Rovers really should have taken the lead on 16 minutes, the ball pinged around in the Badshot area before dropping to Walters, and the in-form Rovers striker looked to have done everything right but his powerful close range effort was superbly saved by Harry Cawdron. Walters then saw a header hit the cross back after a dangerous Folarin Awoleke free kick.
Badshot had a glorious chance to open the scoring on 20 minutes, a launched ball forward by George Winkworth caught our the Rovers backline and Lewis raced onto the ball, poked it beyond Orlowski but fortunately for Rovers the poke was both off target and to far in front for Lewis to collect. Midway through the half and Stallard and Awoleke lost possession to Aitor Andon and his threaded ball forced Orlowski to bravely save at Timberlakes feet as Badshot looked poised to score. From the goalkick Gyamfi and Winkworth battled for the ball in the air, with it dropping to Walters who fired an effort just over.
Against the run of play Rovers struck. Awoleke played a delightful ball to the back post where Gyamfi calmly side-footed home to give the Rovers the lead. Empochontsif was then left in heap on the floor after a poorly timed challenge by Dehghani.
Gyamfi almost notched his second on 33 minutes after good work by Pepple but Cawdron was out smartly to make a good block. Badshot missed a glorious chance to level things up on 35 minutes, Dehghani swung a free kick into a dangerous area and Timberlake somehow failed to hit the target with a free header.
Rovers increased their lead on the stroke of half time, with an un-Rovers like goal. A deep free kick was headed back across goal by Gyamfi, Stallard fired goalwards, Cawdron made a superb save but Walters was on hand to poke the ball home from a yard.
Half time came with Rovers somewhat fortunate to be holding a two goal advantage and the Baggies rueing their misfortunes in front of goal.
Dehghani fired wide for Badshot on 52 minutes as the visitors strove to get back into the game and Rovers made their first change replacing Williamson with Dobell. Ten minutes into the half and Walters was denied by another great save by Cawdron, however we recycled the ball and a lovely move involving Luke Ige, Stallard and Africa led to Ige skipping beyond three players and hammering the ball into the top corner.
Dehghani was continuing to cause us problems and on the hour a whipped ball into the area was just to far ahead of 9 and drifted harmlessly out for a goalkick. Walters then curled a left footed effort over the crossbar. We then replaced Gyamfi with Sam Sesay. Man of the Match Pepple did well midway through the half, jinking through a couple of tackles and seeing his low cross shot just evade the onrushing Walters and go narrowly wide of the left hand upright.
Stallard bought a comfortable save out of Cawdron with twenty minutes remaining. Into the final ten minutes and Walters cross shot almost found Seesay but was well defended by Taro Chitepo. Shortly after a low Pepple cross was well cleared but only to Ige who bundled passed a couple of players before lashing a shot wide of the left hand post. Tristan Goodridge saw a shot blocked and in the ensuing scramble Lloyd headed a close range effort off the line.
Samuel Yabani fired wide on 89 minutes and we made our final change of the day giving Michael Samson a debut in place of Walters. Pepple put another decent ball into the area, with Allsopp doing superbly to see off Seesay and allowing Badshot to clear. Samson then became the only booking of the day for a “robust” challenge in the middle of the park.
Full time came with Rovers picking up all three points and ending their winless run. It goes to show, football is a funny game, we have played much better in recent weeks and come away with nothing, and the Baggies can feel frustrated that failure to convert chances led to their defeat. Hopefully now the lads can build on that and start moving back in the right direction.