Joey Barton joked that Bristol Rovers had been punished by Murphy’s Law as they succumbed to a dismal defeat at Oldham Athletic on Tuesday.
Defensive stalwart Connor Taylor was withdrawn from Barton’s starting XI in the warm-up at Boundary Park after feeling discomfort around his heart.
A reshuffled defence was all at sea in the first minute of the game and the Latics took the lead through Davis Keillor-Dunn’s ruthless finish, with things getting worse midway through the half when Barton took off creative talisman Antony Evans.
Evans was a doubt to play the game due to a muscle complaint and Barton substituted the 23-year-old with his movement appearing compromised in hope of preventing a more serious injury.
Keillor-Dunn doubled Oldham’s lead soon after and although Evans’ replacement Sam Nicholson pulled a goal back before half time, the Gas delivered a sub-standard performance that resulted in the end of a six-game unbeaten run in League Two.
Oldham should have had a third goal when Callum Whelan’s superb 20-yard strike appeared to cross the line after hitting the woodwork, but the assistant’s flag stayed down.
Barton believes the chaotic chain of events before and during the game summed up a night where nothing went right for the Gas.
“We’ve given them the perfect start and at that point we had a mountain to climb,” Barton said. “We didn’t deserve anything out of the game tonight.
“It was Murphy’s Law where everything that can go wrong seems to go wrong, apart from their goal that was ruled out, which looked like it hit the bar and went in for me.
“We just weren’t good enough and I’m disappointed because the Gasheads have turned up again today.
“We kept huffing and puffing, but we didn’t deserve anything out of the game today.
“It’s a setback and we’ve got to respond correctly against an in-form Mansfield in our stadium on Saturday.”
With Rovers’ six-game unbeaten run no more, the Gas occupy 14th place in League Two, 10 points adrift of the play-offs.
Barton hopes his players respond after a brutal dose of reality in the North West on Tuesday evening.
“Some of them did OK, but I don’t think anybody’s coming out of that game with glowing reports,” he said.
“Maybe a little bit of the smoke and positivity they’ve had has gone to a few of their heads and that is a reality check and straight back down to earth for a few.
“We’ve certainly progressed in recent weeks but never did I think at any moment we were the finished article. I still think there’s lots to come.
“I was saying to you on Saturday I was still thinking we were at three and fours out of 10. Today, we were probably minus four, but we’ll be back stronger.
“Lads are disappointed in there and they will want to give a good account of themselves in front of, hopefully, a packed house at the Mem on Saturday.”
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