Steve Evans plans for the future after agreeing new Bristol Rovers deal

Steve Evans has told Bristol Rovers fans he is determined to build a better team next season after signing a new deal with the club.

The Rovers manager took to the pitch alongside chairman Hussain AlSaeed minutes before the 3-1 win over Crawley to announce Evans has agreed a new contract that runs until 2028.

Rovers then recorded a sixth straight League Two victory after goals from Ellis Harrison, Mees Rijks and Yusuf Akhamrich saw off relegation-threatened opponents.

That was a term used to describe Rovers when Evans joined a team sitting in the bottom two back in December, but those fears have long since disappeared with this latest run ending any chances of relegation.

Evans said after Saturday’s win: “I’m absolutely delighted for the supporters. I said it when I came in: they’ve suffered too long.

“It took us a little while here to get some extra personnel to strengthen the group to our standards and the better ones will stay with us in the summer and then we’ll build.”

Goals from Harrison and Rijks put Rovers in control at half-time.

Louie Watson pulled one back with 10 minutes left and Crawley’s hopes of an equaliser were raised when Tom Lockyer saw red late on.

But Akhamrich scored on the counter attack in stoppage time to secure a ninth win in 11 games.

Evans added: “The closing stages came about because the referee didn’t do his job.

“There were three absolute stonewall penalties not given.

“We defended heroically especially after Tom went off and the the boys stood up.

“But it was always going to be nervy when we don’t take our chances or decisions don’t fall our way late on.

“It was a sending off – I’ve no complaints. He’s a good referee and I’m not driving home thinking about his performance today but to miss the penalty decisions are big decisions.”

The result leaves Crawley precariously placed just outside the bottom two positions with three games to play.

And their head coach Colin Kazim-Richards wants to see his side improve their play in both penalty areas to maintain their EFL status.

“It’s not the result we came for,” he said.

“For long periods of the game I thought we dominated. We had chances to score. We have to be better in both boxes…putting the ball in the back of the net has let us down today.

“We have to get better at understanding the moments that we’re in. I thought that they didn’t create loads of things and we were very good in possession but we went to sleep and got punished.”