Joey Barton was once again left lamenting poor defensive errors after Bristol Rovers were beaten 2-0 by Hull City on Saturday.
Gavin Whyte struck a brace to earn the hosts three points at the KCOM Stadium, but both goals were the product of mistakes by players in blue and white quartered shirts.
First, Luke Leahy unwisely tried to shepherd a loose ball out for a goal kick, but there was not enough roll on the ball and Mallik Wilks stole possession before teeing up Whyte just after the half-hour.
Whyte made it a brace on the hour, turning home George Honeyman’s cross after a chasm was left in the Gas defence when Cian Harries and Alfie Kilgour both competed for, and lost, a header.
Rovers’ manager Barton believes Leahy’s error spoiled a solid start for his side.
“It’s got to go into the stand,” Barton said. “We found ourselves a goal down without feeling any pressure.
“The second goal is an encapsulation of the season. Two players, for some bizarre reason, do not communicate and go for one ball, which they had no need to do.
“All of a sudden there’s a gaping hole in our defence and we found ourselves 2-0 down with a mountain to climb.”
The Gas have taken just three points from Barton’s first four games in charge, with sloppy mistakes in their own third proving their Achilles heel.
The defeat left Rovers in the bottom four of League One and one point from safety with 14 games to play, and Barton said he will make changes to personnel after growing tired of defensive mistakes.
“If people keep making mistakes, you have to give the lads who haven’t been starting games the opportunity to show what they can do,” he said.
“In the midst of the defeat, we still kept plugging away and trying to get back in the game and kept fighting.
“I thought the subs were superb and really lifted the performance, and if we show that spirit and endeavour it will take us a long way. I know it doesn’t feel like that at this moment. There’s the disappointment of defeat, but you have to take the positives out of that game.
“For me, if we iron out these individual errors, we can cause any team problems. If we don’t, we’re giving ourselves mountains to climb every week.
“It’s about switching on for 90 plus minutes, you can’t switch off for a millisecond. In my short time here, even when we’ve been in the ascendancy and dominant in games, we have those lapses of concentration and we have to iron that out.
“If you look at the weight of play, apart from those mad moments they haven’t really got us in a position where I feel we’re a million miles away from that team.
“That is part of the frustration, they’re (Rovers) not a bad team, but the league table suggests otherwise.”
