Bristol Rovers a 'negative place', says Clarke

Bristol Rovers are in a "negative place" after suffering their seventh League Two defeat in a row at Cheltenham Town, head coach Darrell Clarke has said.

Saturday's defeat saw the Gas slip down to 20th in the table, two points above the relegation zone.

Clarke's side have now not won in the league since the 2-1 home victory against Salford City on 27 September.

"I will keep fighting, always - it's a real negative place at the minute and rightly so with the results that we're having," Clarke told BBC Radio Bristol.

Clarke guided Bristol Rovers to two promotions during his first spell as boss at the club between 2014-2018, taking them from the National League to League One.

However, his second spell in the dugout which started this summer has so far proved tough, with the side continuing their slide downwards following relegation at the end of last season.

Their goal difference of -15 is the joint-second worst in the division, while they have scored just three goals during their seven-game losing run in the league.

Against Cheltenham they had 17 shots - three on target - compared to the Robins' four and one on target, which was Jonathan Tomkinson's goal from a corner in the 70th minute.

Rovers also had more than twice as many touches inside the opposition box compared to Cheltenham, more passes and better pass accuracy, but still came away with zero points.

"[Saturday] was a more dogged performance - defended well, hit the post a couple of times, had our moments in final third, didn't take them, defensively pretty strong most of the game, but it counts for nothing if you don't get anything out of the game and that's what we did, we chucked away the points again," Clarke said.

Bristol Rovers next host fifth-placed Notts County on Saturday and Clarke said his side cannot "become victims".

"I've got to keep a siege mentality within the players but also I've got to keep smashing that softness out of them because one soft moment cost us the points again," he added.

"We can't become victims, we've got to roll our sleeves up and go again."