Football We didn't look after the ball well enough, says Gas boss Clarke

DARRELL Clarke admitted his Bristol Rovers side "didn't look after the ball well enough" in a "real good fitness exercise" as they stepped up their preseason preparations with a home friendly against Championship side Coventry City on Wednesday evening.

- Dan HARGRAVES

The Sky Blues finished fifth in the second tier last season before losing to Sunderland in the playoff semifinals and brought a first team squad to the Memorial Stadium.

Luke Southwood was called upon to make two good saves in the first half before Coventry broke the deadlock in the second half via a Macauley Southam-Hales own goal. Then a lovely move, finished off by Kaine Kesler-Hayden, earned the visitors a 2-0 win. For Rovers, Promise Omochere and Ruel Sotiriou came closest with headers over the crossbar, one in each half.

Reflecting on the match, Clarke told the Bristol Post: "A real good fitness exercise for us. We had loads of spells without the ball. I thought we defended really well for large spells if we had to. Nothing came through the middle of us against obviously a talented team; they made the 10 changes at halftime.