Portsmouth 1-0 Bristol Rovers: Joey Barton's Gas relegated to Sky Bet League Two

Saturday 24 April 2021 19:38, UK

Bristol Rovers have been relegated from Sky Bet League One after a 1-0 defeat to Portsmouth.

A win for Joey Barton's men would have staved off the immediate threat of the drop, though the fact Wigan avoided defeat in their game at home to Burton later in the afternoon means they would have been relegated regardless.

But Ronan Curtis' first-half goal was enough to earn Pompey their first win in five matches and send Barton's Rovers down before any results came in elsewhere.

Former Premier League midfielder Barton took over at the Memorial Ground on February 22, but has won just three of his 16 games in charge so far, meaning Rovers will play in Sky Bet League Two next season for the first time since the 2015/16 campaign.

After a slow start where Rovers had the majority of the ball, Pompey took the lead with what proved to be the only goal in the 27th minute.

Goalkeeper Craig MacGillivray caught the ball at a corner before starting a quick counter-attack which ended with George Byers' subtle pass into Curtis who stroked his shot into the net.

On the stroke of half-time home defender Rasmus Nicolaisen had to clear the ball away from under his own crossbar as Rovers pushed for an equaliser.

The visitors were restricted to long-range shots on goal in the second half and Curtis should have sealed the win 11 minutes from time.

Andy Cannon released Curtis with a defence-splitting pass which the Republic of Ireland international could only steer wide with the goal gaping.

'We have a real scrap on our hands'

Bristol Rovers' Joey Barton: "It was all-but confirmed before today and it is now confirmed. Some teams do not deserve to go down but I certainly think we do. It is not going to be easy but we have to rebuild now.

"There is no God-given right to go down and come straight back up so we have a real scrap on our hands because nobody wants to be in League Two. It is about how we respond to it and the hard work starts now.

"I cannot fault the efforts of the players today because Pompey have had one shot on target and won the game. It is not just about effort. It is about quality and unfortunately for us we have not got enough of that in the building."