The 2020/21 season for Bristol Rovers is best summed up by that Simpsons episode when Sideshow Bob can't stop stepping on rakes. Pain was waiting for Gasheads everywhere they turned, but perhaps the most painful blow of all was dealt by Accrington Stanley.
Saturday's 2-0 defeat was nothing like that 6-1 embarrassment almost two years ago when the Gas last visited this corner of Lancashire; Rovers are a club in the ascendancy and this loss doesn't compare in the slightest. But the Gas received another Wham Stadium whack from a club that has their number on home turf, as the wait for an away win at the Crown Ground goes on.
"We got 'Accringtoned'," Joey Barton said after a scrappy, stop-start game played into the host's hands and they were able to profit. Rovers were sputtering until they fell behind, barely making an impression in the final third, and when Tommy Leigh's controversial second-half opener jolted them into action, they could not produce the same attacking potency that delivered back-to-back wins to start 2023.
