If Inigo Calderon can solve this one Bristol Rovers issue, League One relegation threat will vanish | OneFootball

If Bristol Rovers and Inigo Calderon can vanquish this issue survival can be assured

Bristol Rovers secured back-to-back home wins this week with two extraordinary results against promotion chasers Huddersfield Town and Bolton Wanderers, to leave the Pirates sitting nine points clear of the relegation zone. Few expected the Gas to come away from these games with too many points, let alone all six.

One thing that might have been expected, however, was for the Gas to concede from a set piece. Despite keeping a clean sheet against Huddersfield on Saturday, it was a familiar story against Bolton on Tuesday evening, with Rovers again displaying their fragility from a dead ball situation as both of the Trotters' goals resulted from corners.

Bristol Rovers currently have the unenviable position of being top of the standings for goals conceded at set pieces with 22 at the time of writing. Bolton themselves have been fairly vulnerable to set pieces this season, having given away the seventh most goals from dead balls. And as if to drill home the point, it would be this that led to Rovers’ winner on Tuesday night.

Set piece have proven costly for Bristol Rovers

While not costly for the Gas at least against Bolton, there have been times when it has been. They were on the wrong end of another 3-2 thriller at the Mem against Rotherham earlier this month, with Sam Nombe capitalising on Rovers' fragility that day to snatch a winner. As well as late drama earlier in the season as Wycombe gave Gasheads a glimpse into what would become Rovers' Achilles Heel throughout this campaign.

We’re told that Rovers have been working on this, and it would be remiss to ignore the fact that Rovers have had somewhat of an unsettled picture in this department with the arrival, and then immediate departure, of Lee Cattermole, who had been hired as a set-piece coach.

Small details and fine margins for Bristol Rovers at set pieces

When asked whether it annoys him that Rovers conceded from a free-kick against Bolton by BBC Radio Bristol in the pre-match press conference, he replied: "Well, it hurt and especially in the first half you know I think they were better than us.

"I think we were a bit on the back foot when we scored, and I think they were much better than us so the last thing you want when that happens is to concede from set piece because in set piece, in theory, it doesn't matter how you are in the game you know but at the same time you see any highlights of the League One I would say half of the goals they're coming from set pieces and even we scored the last one from set piece so we cannot get crazy about that because I think it’s a theme in this division obviously we will try to stop that."

Admitting there is room to improve on the small details, he added: "It's just small details or small margins. It is not like we are a disaster or that all the time we are great. It's true that as soon as we make a small mistake in our positioning or how we approach the set piece, as soon as we make a small mistake they punish us so that’s room to improve, and we have to do that.”

With Bristol Rovers now perhaps breathing a little easier as they enhanced their chances of survival with two incredible wins against teams in the upper echelons of the league, they’ll know that if they can make this fragility at set-pieces disappear, then they will almost certainly secure themselves a spot in League One next season.