Joey Barton said his players were frustrated not to score more goals as Bristol Rovers romped to a 4-0 win over 10-man Burton Albion at the Pirelli Stadium on Saturday.
Conor O'Shaughnessy's foul on Aaron Collins inside 30 seconds denied a clear goalscoring opportunity and the Burton defender was shown a straight red card. From the resulting free-kick, Antony Evans curled Rovers into the lead and they were dominant from there.
James Connolly doubled the lead by stabbing home Evans' cross and Aaron Collins had Rovers four in front by half time with a superb brace.
The Gas dominated the second half without scoring and cruised to a handsome win in front of more than 1,400 travelling supporters to open their account after the defeat to Forest Green Rovers on the opening day a week ago.
Barton was pleased by Rovers' performance, executing the fast start he desired.
"When you’re on the run they’re (Burton) on, we said make a fast start, don’t let them settle in the game," the Rovers boss said. "They’ve in that losing habit and we’re in that winning habit, although we’ve been on the other side of that, we’ve been a team with that kind of culture where you concede a goal and heads go down.
"Credit to them, they came out in the second half and they had a scrap and a go, testing us a few times. Belly’s had to make a couple saves and a couple have whizzed from set plays and long throws. We’ve had to defend it correctly.
"For us, it was about getting out of here with three points no matter how they come and to do with it with a commanding performance, albeit against a team with a man sent off, is really pleasing.
"I’d take the opposition getting a man sent off after the first minute every week. The reality of it is we’ve come away from home, coming up a division, you want to get that first win on the board as soon as possible because it breeds confidence in the group and the lads know they deserve to be at the level.
"For us, whichever way it came, if it was a scrappy 1-0 we would have taken that, but as it was it was a relatively commanding performance due to the opposition losing a man so early."
It was close to a perfect afternoon for the Gas, although Barton did see room for improvement.
"We were wanting to get more goals because you never know when they’re going to be needed," he said.
"I would have really liked to see John Marquis (score) and he was unlucky with a couple of attempts, some good defending and the woodwork. I would have liked to have seen Lofty get off the mark as well and Harvey Saunders has had a few chances.
"The main thing for us was being professional in the second period and managing the game correctly. We knew Burton would throw the kitchen sink at us to get back in it and the main thing for us is we kept that clean sheet with a young defence and a new defence in many ways.
"Lewis Gordon is 21, Luca Hoole is 20, James Connolly is 20 and James Gibbons is a veteran in there at 24. A young side across that backline and I thought they handled the game and the concentration levels were superb."
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