Bristol Rovers' spirit showed through, says Coles after dramatic win

Bristol Rovers 3 Carlisle United 2: The last five weeks have been a testing time for everyone at Bristol Rovers, and particularly Danny Coles.

The central defender was only able to play bit-parts while the team went through their six-game losing run.

He was side-lined for four of those defeats – first by a bout of food poisoning and then with a knee problem.

Now Rovers will be hoping that this last-gasp victory proves significant not only for ending that miserable run, but also in terms of Coles' availability for the future.

"It's a massive relief. We've had a bad patch and we just needed to stop the rot – I think we'd have probably taken a point, but we showed that we never give in," said Coles.

"We showed a spirit and togetherness and are delighted to have come out of it with three points."

Coles can be an inspirational figure at the back for the Pirates.

But after seeing his last season wrecked by knee injuries, there was a collective holding of breath at the club after he felt discomfort in the joint during the defeat by Yeovil.

"I was always confident it was only going to be a short-term problem and when I tweaked it, I knew it wasn't as bad as what I did last year," he said.

"The scan cleared things up and I was relieved when the results came through because it's been frustrating sitting and watching the boys during a losing run."

In truth, that run looked like being extended with less than 10 minutes to go as Rovers trailed for the second time in the game.

But Jeff Hughes conjured up a second equaliser with a fine strike – and Chris Lines underlined his growing importance to the side by bundling home a dramatic late winner from a corner.

It wasn't pretty, but it was absolutely crucial.

"Even at 2-1 down, we all kept on believing and it was a hell of a finish from Hughesy to get us back in it," said Coles. "When that went in, I thought there was every chance we could go on and win."

Having led twice, Carlisle must have felt they'd been mugged at the death – and Rovers found the going difficult in the opening period as they played against a howling gale and a visiting team who could have punished them more heavily.

Mikkel Andersen was forced to make a couple of important early stops to thwart Vincent Pericard and Joe Anyinsah before their resistance was breached in the 21st minute when Ian Harte fired home from the close range.

The cross was provided by the wily Graham Kavanagh, probably the best player on the park, who orchestrated many of the Cumbrians' better moments from an advanced midfield role.

Rovers levelled before the break when Jo Kuffour, though heavily outnumbered, managed to create the space to turn and fire a shot across keeper Lenny Pidgeley and into the far corner.

The goal settled the Pirates down and although Pericard went close again for Carlisle with an angled drive, Coles drew a diving save from Pidgeley with a header from a corner.

With the wind at their backs in the second period, Rovers had better spells of pressure over the opening stages without making them pay as Chris Dickson fired one attempt just over the bar and another horribly wide of a post.

Fomer Bristol City defender Richard Keogh, given the sort of reception Gasheads exclusively reserve for Ashton Gate old boys, then silenced the home crowd by firing the Cumbrians into a 2-1 lead in the 72nd minute.

Once again, Rovers' defending was questionable as Keogh got on the end of Matty Robson's cross to head home from close range.

But with eight minutes left, Hughes produced a goal out of nothing with a left-foot shot that curled past the despairing Pidgeley before Lines bundled home an emotional winner with only a few seconds of stoppage-time remaining.

"Carlisle's two goals weren't good enough from our point of view and we could have been punished a few more times," admitted Coles. "There are still things we need to work on at the training ground this week – but for the moment we'll just savour this result because we've been through a bad month.

"Lennie Lawrence said to us afterwards that results like that can decide your season and the three points were massive for us. Hopefully we can push on and we'll go into next weekend's game against Gillingham feeling confident."

Carlisle boss Greg Abbott had seen his own side strike late to take the points against Southend a couple of weeks before, so was in sanguine mood.

"I don't think Bristol Rovers deserved to win, although they didn't deserve to lose.

"What they did was dig deep for their manager and fans and got a result through sheer determination," he said.

"They have had a tough trot in recent weeks and this might just be the win they need to give them a lift.

"Fair play to both teams because I thought it was a terrific game of football given the conditions."