Chris Martin stated that there are plenty of positives Bristol Rovers can take forward after the Gas lost 3-2 to Leyton Orient at The Memorial Stadium on Wednesday.
The Pirates were searching for their first victory under new head coach Iñigo Calderón. They were in the ascendancy after Martin’s penalty cancelled out Ethan Galbraith’s opener but strikes from Jamie Donley and Charlie Kelman in each half put the visitors into a two-goal lead.
Martin netted his second with 15 minutes to play to bring the contest to a climatic conclusion, but Orient held onto their slender advantage to claim the points.
The striker was disappointed with the result but insisted the team can hold onto the positives of their performance.
“I’m disappointed in the end,” he said. “There were a lot of positives, but there’s also the negative of the result. So, plenty to improve and plenty to work on, but there was a bit of fight. There was a bit of spirit that we showed.
“I think at this moment in time, we’re obviously going through a tough period. We need to try and find strength and positivity in those things and what we can take forward into the games coming up.
“Any of those positives we can hold onto, we will. We still need to address what went wrong. I’m sure the manager will do that in the coming days. But there’s another game coming extremely quickly, so we can’t dwell on it too much.”
Martin led the scoring charts for Rovers last term after netting 16 goals in the third tier, ten more than anyone else in the squad. However, after an injury-hit start to the campaign, breaking his fibula against Stockport County, Martin has been in and out of the side,
He netted his first two goals of the season against Orient, stating his disappointment about his scoring form.
"It's taken far too long for me to get off the mark,” the striker reflected. “I've been very disappointed in that, and I need to find a way of getting more chances for myself, scoring more goals, helping the team more, contributing both goals, assists and in any other way that I possibly can.
“It never stops. You've got to continue to try to evolve and improve, and I'll be looking to do that.”
Finding the back of the net for Rovers had been an issue for a portion of the campaign, with the Gas netting one goal in six outings between the middle of November and halfway through December. Scoring has improved in recent weeks, with the 3-0 loss to Stevenage in the Pirates’ last game of 2024 being an outlier of an improving attack.
Martin admitted that chance creation has been an issue but that Rovers have made improvements.
“I definitely think that’s been a problem for us over the past couple of months from when I’ve played as a forward,” said Martin. “I think that has improved over the last few games and definitely today, it did feel like we won the ball back plenty of times of them high up the pitch and were able to carve out a good few opportunities.
“There was still a disappointing end to some of those attacks, where I think it promised a little bit more than what it delivered. But it’s a huge positive for us and if we can continue to do that and continue to work on that on the training field, then I’m sure we’ll be able to capitalise on more of those opportunities. Hopefully, that leads to us gaining some points and moving up the table.”
The loss to Orient was Calderón’s second game in charge of the Gas since being appointed as Rovers’ head coach on Boxing Day. Martin suggested that the Spaniard can help Rovers and hopes the team will improve quickly under his leadership.
“I've been impressed with his ideas and how he's getting that across on the training pitch,” said the forward. “He's very, very hands-on. He's taken a lot of it and is giving us as much information as possible.
“It always can be a little bit difficult for a new manager and how much he tries to say in the beginning. There's been a lot of games, so we haven't had loads of time to work on too much, and he has stressed that as well. We're trying to focus on three or four key points here and there in each game and for us as a squad.
“But from what I've seen of him; I do think that he'll be able to help us an awful lot. We just hope that it happens sooner rather than later. I think that's always the million-dollar question, I guess. How quickly can he impress his ideas on us, and how quickly can we put him into practice out there on the pitch.”
There is not much time between games at this period of the year, with Rovers playing every few days in a packed schedule. It is a time where teams can pick up points in a short period of time, with the Gas’ next challenge coming in the form of a trip to Cambridge United on Saturday.
Martin said that the team can take plenty from their recent performances into the game against the U’s and wants his side to get out of the difficult situation that they are in.
“That’s what we try [to take positives],” said Martin. “I'm sure the manager will go through it with his meetings and over his training sessions in the next couple of days in terms of the good things we can take from this game and what the following game against Cambridge needs.
“I’m sure it’ll be a different plan. We haven’t quite been able to execute the plans that we’ve had over the last couple of games exactly how we would have liked and how the manager would have liked us to.
“We need to make sure we get that right. We don’t want to be in this situation for any longer.”
