AFTER the euphoria of the midweek mauling of Brighton, misery at the Memorial Ground.

Town faltered after changing their formation and failing to get a grip in the middle of the pitch.

They held out until the 83rd minute, when Jeff Hughes rifled home the second of two penalties awarded to Bristol Rovers to seal a fourth straight win for the home side and condemn the visitors to a first defeat in their fifth match of the campaign.

But Lee Clark’s side had been on the back foot for most of the contest.

And while a point would have been welcome, they couldn’t really complain at losing all three on a disappointing day in the West Country.

The manager’s plan was to add an extra man to central midfield, with Danny Drinkwater playing ahead of Antony Kay and Tom Clarke and behind sole striker Jordan Rhodes.

The theory was that Town’s three would master Rovers’ two (Stuart Campbell and Chris Lines) and bring advancing widemen Anthony Pilkington and Gary Roberts into play.

But it didn’t work out like that as Bristol bossed the game and created by far the clearer-cut chances.

Ironically, by the time the goal arrived, Town had reverted to 4-4-2 (Kay was replaced by Theo Robinson at half-time), but while the second half was more even, the visitors failed to create many genuine opportunities.

The only time the 610 away fans in a 6,952 crowd got excited was in the 71st minute, when Robinson raced onto Drinkwater’s measured through ball and looked like he was going to take the ball round Fraser Forster.

However the giant goalkeeper on loan from Wednesday’s Carling Cup second-round hosts Newcastle managed to divert the ball with his foot, and the moment was gone.

Other than that incident and making a comfortable late save from substitute Lionel Ainsworth, Forster had precious little to do, with Town’s only first-half effort coming in stoppage time, when Peter Clarke’s shot from Drinkwater’s corner flew into a mass of bodies and Pilkington’s looping header from the rebound was plucked from the air.

In the second half, Town struggled to get efforts on target, with Rhodes curling a shot wide, Pilkington heading too high and Robinson volleying over the bar.

Town, meanwhile, had goalkeeper Alex Smithies to thank for keeping Rovers out for so long.

Town had dealt with three home corners without problem by the time Smithies fouled Lines as he latched onto Jo Kuffour’s pass.

There was no doubt it was a penalty, but referee Keith Hill resisted the home fans’ hollering and showed the Town keeper a yellow rather than red card (correctly since the Rovers player was heading across the area rather than towards goal).

There was further disappointment for the Rovers faithful when Smithies dived to his left to save Darryl Duffy’s spot kick.

The teenager pulled off another great save in the 41st minute when Kuffour fired in a rising shot after being set up by the influential Campbell.

Roberts cleared off the line when defender Byron Anthony powered in a 57th-minute header from a Campbell corner.

Then, on 72 minutes, Smithies parried a shot from Hughes, who escaped with a yellow rather than red card after clearly aiming a kick at Peter Clarke in the melee which followed.

Former Crystal Palace man Hughes made the most of his let-off when he sent Smithies the wrong way from the spot after Andy Butler handled while sliding in to stop substitute Andy Williams’ run.

Related content