A perfect bank holiday weekend for Bristol Rovers and Joey Barton was only made sweeter for the manager by the Gas coming from behind to defeat his former employers Fleetwood Town on Easter Monday.
Jayden Stockley nodded Scott Brown's side in front at Highbury Stadium midway through the first half, but the Gas considered themselves hard done by to be behind at the pause having controlled possession and created several good chances, but they channelled their frustration expertly and surged back after the interval.
Lewis Gibson reacted fastest in a goalmouth scramble to equalise in the 56th minute and 10 minutes later Rovers were ahead as Grant Ward's apparent cross bent into the top corner beyond the flailing Jay Lynch in windy conditions. The Gas defence – much improved in recent weeks – held firm in the closing stages and they claimed a deserved three points, backing up the Good Friday victory over Charlton Athletic.
A six-point haul over Easter lifted Rovers to 14th in League One, extending their cushion to the relegation zone to 13 points with seven games to play. Barton, Fleetwood's manager from 2018-21 before being sacked just a few months on from leading them to the third-tier play-offs, played down the notion of added motivation before the game, but after the final whistle, he savoured the victory over his old club.
"We were the better side on the afternoon," he said. "We were the only side trying to play football. They are effective at what they do but Fleetwood fans must be disappointed that Joey Barton is not the manager because we were a miles better football team than what they are seeing at the minute. It’s Fleetwood’s loss and Bristol Rovers’ gain.
"I thought we were unfortunate to go in at half time behind. The best chance of the whole game falls to Antony Evans at the back post and he scores that 99 times out of 100.
"It was disappointing to go in behind. They were a set-play team, we didn’t think it was a corner, Lewis Gordon thought it went out for a goal kick, but we didn’t defend the second phase of it which is disappointing because that’s all they really had, long balls into Stockley and second phase of the set piece.
"I said to the boys at half time to settle down and keep passing the ball. We obviously made a couple of changes to get a bit more penetration through the middle with Josh Coburn and Ryan Loft coming on and we just tweaked it a little bit, going back to that diamond which has worked for us and we were good value for the victory."
Barton admitted winning this game meant more to him and he thanked the travelling Gasheads for their support on the Fylde Coast.
"Yeah, absolutely," he responded when asked if he felt any added satisfaction. "He (Fleetwood owner Andy Pilley) was a fool to sack me, as he knows, and you can see from the style of football and where the club has gone since.
"To be fair to Scott, he’s turned them around, had a good cup run and picked them up in the table. It’s taken a bit of time.
"But your mind just goes into winning the game. I want to beat my children at Connect Four and Tiddlywinks, I don’t give anyone an inch in anything, but there was a bit of added spice for my first visit back here.
"Our fans came out again. It would have been easy to go ‘Oh, it’s Easter Monday, we’ll stay at home’. I’ve seen the Gas come here under Graham Coughlan when I was Fleetwood manager and they absolutely bombarded that (away end) because it was a relegation fight and they were fighting for their lives. They got a good point here that day which helped them survive.
"Credit to our fans. I’m not sure how many came, but certainly in the second half, it felt like we were at home. No disrespect to the Fleetwood fans, but we carried momentum and the fans were a massive part of that.
"It’s sweet to beat your former club, but I’ll take three points anywhere."
As for the decisive goal, Barton was not one for taking any credit away from Ward when posed with the 'Shot or cross?' question.
"You’ll have to ask him," he laughed. "I don’t care, it’s in the back of the net and we get three points. You’ll have to ask Wardy when you speak to him, I don’t want to take the shine off it because it’s a winning goal."
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