Let's make Mem a fortress again, says Bristol Rovers boss

Paul Trollope wants Bristol Rovers to reproduce the home form that helped carry the side to promotion two seasons ago.

The coach was delighted as his side recorded back-to-back wins for the first time this season, a 2-1 weekend victory over Leyton Orient pushing them up to 11th place in League One.

And with four of their next six league games at the Memorial Stadium, Trollope says the side have to reproduce the sort of consistency which led to only five home defeats all season when they went up via the play-offs two seasons ago.

He said: "In our promotion year, the place was a fortress. We were confident of beating anyone and we lost very few games.

"Last season we had too many draws, although the defeats column wasn't horrendous. But it's important we improve on that. We have a lot of home games coming up and hopefully we will have learned a lesson from this game about getting the crowd going and getting some tempo into our play."

Goals from Danny Coles – who had earlier put through his own net – and Craig Hinton clinched Rovers' victory, although Trollope acknowledged that the introduction of Jo Kuffour from the bench played a major part in lifting the crowd and the team.

"I think it was down to psychology as much as his performance," said Trollope. "We knew we had to be bold and put another forward on. Jo had a couple of exciting touches early on and that definitely made a difference.

"Some of our first-half play was OK, some of it we need to improve on. But at half-time we felt we were in a position to go on and win the game. That proved the case in the end, although we were disappointed to concede a goal and with the 10-minute spell after that, when we were a bit weak mentally and lost a bit of belief.

"Credit to the players because they managed to turn it around and there was some resilient defending at the end to cope with the corners and free-kicks that came into our box."

Rovers have now taken seven points from the last nine and Trollope added: "We had to put the brakes on after four defeats in a row and (director of football) Lennie Lawrence said you don't then suddenly start winning games freely.

"We first had to make sure we were still in games because we had been starting poorly and going a couple of goals down.

"We have changed the shape and certain aspects have worked, certain ones haven't, so we may need to tweak things slightly at home to get the best out of it."

Trollope was ordered from the dug-out by referee Andy Woolmer late in the game and admitted: "I went in to apologise to the referee and officials afterwards. I went outside my technical area, which I know you are not meant to do. Sometimes the situation overtakes you. I was in the wrong."

Both managers were mystified when the Northamptonshire official played more than seven minutes of stoppage time.

"I don't think the board went up for one reason or another, which obviously gave Orient some hope," said Trollope. "I was on the terrace by that time, pointing at my watch, but I don't think the referee saw me!"

Coles will have a scan on his knee injury today and Trollope added: "We hope it's not too bad because he's an important player for us."