Steve Evans: Bristol Rovers’ victory at Shrewsbury better than the Maldives

Bristol Rovers manager Steve Evans said his side’s 3-0 win at Shrewsbury beat being in the Maldives after they ended a 13-game winless league run in emphatic fashion.

Fabrizio Cavegn bagged a hat-trick to secure victory over the Shrews at the Croud Meadow in a crucial clash at the bottom of League Two.

Shrewsbury had early chances to take the lead, with Isaac England firing just over and John Marquis breaking clear only to hit the outside of a post.

Rovers themselves were limited to half-chances before the break, with efforts from Kamil Conteh and Shaq Forde blocked, leaving the sides level at half-time.

But the deadlock was broken in the 63rd minute when Cavegn capitalised on a terrible defensive error to give Rovers the lead.

He made the game safe in the 88th minute before completing his hat-trick deep into added time as the Pirates recorded their first League Two win since September.

Having recorded their first victory since he took charge last month, Evans said: “This is better than the Maldives.

“My wife will still be crying – she’s swapped bikinis for rain jackets and all sorts in the last week – but, yeah, it meant everything.

“For us to produce an away victory for those supporters who travelled all this way, and the ones at home listening to the commentary, it’s a great win.

“But for me, when the third goal went in, I must admit, I did think, this is better than the Maldives.

“I’m in the city now, I’m living in it. Everyone’s telling me, as I go to the shop or the petrol station, how important it is.

“One swallow doesn’t make a summer, so we didn’t get carried away.

“But there’s another huge game coming against Barrow on Sunday – a team, and a manager in there at the moment, who I’ve got a lot of respect for.”

After his Shrewsbury side were booed and jeered at the final whistle following a fourth consecutive defeat, manager Michael Appleton said: “The first goal was a bit of a calamity situation and certainly we could have dealt with it better.

“Obviously, the other two goals came from us trying to press and trying to get the equaliser.

“Until that goal, we’d had the two big chances in the game, one-on-ones, and unfortunately we weren’t able to take them and got badly punished.

“The reality is we’re in a position we don’t want to be in and I certainly don’t want to be in it.

“I’m not going to shy away from anything. I completely understand it. I completely get it.

“The frustrations, at times, obviously can boil over, but it’s football, it’s the world we live in these days, the fans are disappointed to lose such a big game.

“This isn’t the first time I’ve been in this type of situation. I’ve got to stay positive, try to help the players, and motivate them to challenge themselves every single day.

“We need to look forward to the games coming up because we’ve got a very, very tough game on Sunday.”