Andy Mangan expects Bristol Rovers to improve in the coming weeks after they drew 1-1 at Plymouth Argyle in the EFL Trophy on Tuesday, losing the bonus point penalty shootout 4-3.
First-team coach Mangan celebrated his 36th birthday and was in charge on Tuesday with manager Joey Barton at home due to illness, and he witnessed an entertaining game from the technical area as Ryan Loft put Rovers ahead after the break before Ryan Hardie equalised from the penalty spot.
Both sides threw caution to the wind and the game became incredibly stretched, but neither side took their chances to clinch victory. A penalty shootout ensued and Argyle's Niall Ennis scored the decisive penalty after Antony Evans and Harvey Greenslade were the unfortunate Gas players who failed to score from 12 yards.
Rovers finished the evening third in their group, with Crystal Palace U21s beating Swindon Town 2-0 at The County Ground.
"Obviously, you want to come away with the win but I think the lads performed really professionally and gave their all, but we just came up a bit short, to be honest," Mangan said.
"There were a lot of chances, which you don’t particularly want to allow to happen in front of your goal. Too many crosses were coming in, too many shots on target. Hopefully we can be better in the coming weeks.
"We’re still building, we’re still a new group and we’re still trying to get a couple of players in, so once we get a settled side, hopefully that won’t happen and we can move forward and performances will improve."
Trevor Clarke was a surprise inclusion in the starting XI on Tuesday after he was exiled by Barton earlier this month. The Irishman was told he had no future at the club, with Barton admitting he made a "mistake" offering him a new contract in June.
But Clarke played 70 minutes at Home Park with Rovers' squad thinned by injuries as the wait for more signings goes down to the wire ahead of Thursday's transfer deadline, and the man in charge was pleased with his efforts.
"Trevor did excellently tonight," Mangan said. "He’s someone who unfortunately may not be here, but a fantastic attitude, did ever so well tonight and deserves to play, but that might not be with us.
"That’s something in the ether, really, but Trev did great to show how good of a professional he is and we just need to wait and see what happens with that one."
Barton stayed at home in Bristol due to a sickness bug, but Mangan said he is due to rejoin the group soon ahead of Saturday's League One fixture against Morecambe at the Mem.
"He’s just not well," Mangan added. "He’ll be back in tomorrow or Thursday, it’s just a 24-hour bug thing and you’ve got to be careful and not stay around the lads because you don’t want them getting ill will big games coming up.
"Nothing untoward, he’s just not feeling too well at the moment."
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