Joey Barton hailed a moment of "world-class" quality from Antony Evans to fire Bristol Rovers to a 1-0 win over Barrow at the Mem on Tuesday.
Rovers' promotion hopes were done the world of good thanks to Evans' incredible winning goal, firing into the roof of the net from long range to break the 10-man Bluebirds' resistance. Niall Canavan had been sent off in the first half for denying a goalscoring opportunity after Evans picked out Leon Clarke, but Barrow soaked up pressure and frustrated the Gas.
But the Mem erupted nine minutes from time when Evans broke the deadlock and, after a chaotic end to the game with Barrow hitting the post in their pursuit of an equaliser, the Gas ended the evening just two points off the League Two play-off places and just five off the automatic promotion berths with a game in hand.
"Thankfully, we managed to get the job done," Barton told reporters at full time. "Looking at results that have gone in the league tonight, with a draw we wouldn’t have lost ground on anyone. It would’ve been disappointing because the opposition were down to 10 twice against Barrow and we didn’t manage to convert, but luckily it looks a helluva lot different because of a world-class moment, which is what it is.
"If you look around the Champions League, if anyone strikes it that clean from that distance… Their keeper was inspired tonight and it was going to take something special to beat him, and luckily for us Evo has produced another high-quality moment.
"Big players make big plays and key times and he’s stepped up for us again, but at the back end the defenders defended properly and kept a clean sheet. Belly didn’t have much to do tonight, but everything he did do was at the level he has been at all season, which is exceptional.
"I'm really pleased; a good team performance. There was a bit of rotation tonight so we utilised the squad a bit with a couple of lads having illnesses, but looking at results I can sit back tonight and have a cup of tea and reflect on a good night’s work."
In many respects, the match mirrored the fixture at Barrow in August when Barrow had Mark Ellis sent off in the 31st minute. On that occasion, they frustrated Rovers and created the better chances despite the numerical disadvantage.
But after Canavan was dismissed on 32 minutes on Tuesday, Rovers had much more control, underlining their progression as a team as the season has reached the business end. Barton was pleased to see his side had learned from those mistakes.
"We wanted to keep the width on the play," he explained. "We tried to encourage always having somebody wide, whether that was Luca Hoole, Nick Anderton or Harry Anderson and Sammy Nicholson, to keep stretching them and keep the ball and be patient.
"We said we might win it in the first minute of the second half or the last minute of the game. We have to be patient and always be mindful of keeping that back door closed. If you remember the game there, which you know doubt won’t, it was when I famously had a chat with Sam (Frost) about where I thought we’d end up.
"The challenge that day was I felt we just kept smothering our work. We never had the width on the play and they posed a real threat on the counterattack. There were a lot of harem-scarem moments in that game where we didn’t control the transitional phase and they had players who were capable of springing on the counter.
"At half time, we were mindful of that. We want to win the game, but we need to manage the transitional phase and we need to make sure that whilst we’re trying to win, we don’t leave the backdoor unlocked and I thought the lads were superb, up until we scored and then it got a bit frantic."
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