Disappointed Paul Trollope accused his Bristol Rovers players of "letting Scunthorpe off the ropes" after his side slipped to their third defeat in a row.

Though the Pirates fought back from conceding a deflected free-kick just before the break, they let in the winner shortly after Rickie Lambert had headed home a leveller – his 16th goal of the season.

The victory saw Scunthorpe return to the top of League One, but Trollope said: "We thought we deserved a point.

"We had some good bits of play in the first half and it was disappointing to go behind to a deflected free kick, but we got back into it well.

"It was a good cross from Craig Disley and a good header from Rickie.

"But the little spell after we scored wasn't good enough. We made some poor decisions, made some poor clearances and gave the ball away on the halfway line, which led directly to their winner.

"We contributed greatly to their second goal. For some reason a little bit of fear crept in. The spell after we scored was our worst of the game.

"We pushed hard and pegged them back after that, but didn't have the guile to score an equaliser. We must learn from it.

"Credit to Scunthorpe because they are a good side. We have performed well against the top three sides when we have played them and aren't too far away, but there is still a gap to close.

"In boxing terms, we had Scunthorpe on the ropes – but then let them off."

Scunthorpe boss Nigel Adkins said: "Credit to Bristol Rovers because they have been on a good run at home and they gave it a real go.

"But we are on a great journey and it's good to be top of the league again. All we can do is keep winning our games and try to get promoted any way we can.

"I was really pleased with the way we saw the game out."