LUCKY ESCAPE: Chris Duggan escaped a red card after he appeared to use his hand when clearing Simon Bochenski's shot off the line.
Tiverton 1
Rovers 0
THE honeymoon period is officially over.
Three league defeats in 12 games shouldn't get Rovers fans reaching for the panic button just yet.
But Duane Darby faces a long, arduous week scouring the transfer market to make sure his side's progress has only been temporarily derailed by back-to-back defeats.
Rovers are simply down to the bare bones.
So much so, Darby was forced to call upon the club's youth side to make up his entire substitutes bench.
The back-up quintet of Chris Mole, Ben Albutt, Gareth Vizor, Emre Woolf and Peter Jenvey had a combined total of just seven competitive starts and 25 senior appearances under their belts before Saturday.
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Rovers' striking crisis has also hit a new low, with Darby being forced to deploy Chris Cornes, the least orthodox of his front men, in a lone role.
In midfield, the absence of Sam Alsop through illness and suspension has taken a notable edge off Rovers' play.
A competitor, a provider and above all a goal threat, when Alsop is missing he leaves a gaping whole in the Greens' armoury.
The cause wasn't helped when Les Hines suffered a recurrence of a hamstring injury after 13 minutes.
The experienced full-back's early exit proved significant in Rovers being unable to execute their game plan.
The pack had to be shuffled, and a switch to 4-4-2 meant Chris McHale had to abdicate his anchor role behind the midfield pairing of Dave Bridgwater and Mark Benbow, and revert to full-back.
McHale suffered a torrid afternoon at the hands of Tiverton midfielder Glen Gould, and was culpable in handing the home side their winning strike.
Gould received the ball out wide and cut into the Rovers box, only to be hauled down by a clumsy challenge from McHale.
James Fraser stepped up and powered the 39th minute penalty past Karl Lewis, leaving the visiting supporters wondering where a route back might come from.
It had been a fruitless opening period for Rovers in front of goal, with Vizor and Cornes offering little presence in attack.
A minute later they were almost another goal and a man down, when the officials failed to spot Chris Duggan's handball on the line.
Simon Bochenski beat the offside trap and rounded Lewis, but a combination of Duggan's outstretched leg and arm managed to divert the ball over the bar.
The second-half was more promising for Rovers, with Cornes and Mark Benbow going close with long range efforts.
Benbow provided Tiverton goalkeeper Ray Johnston with his only real test of the afternoon four minutes from time.
In the Greens' best move of the match, Albutt gathered possession in his own half and switched to Duggan who sprinted down the left flank.
Duggan threaded through to Benbow who cut inside and aimed for the top corner, but Johnston produced an acrobatic stop.
But that was as good as it got for Rovers, who lacked a physical presence in key areas of the field.
Bar 20 minutes of madness against Corby, competing hasn't been a problem since Darby took the managerial reigns.
However, with a queue forming outside the treatment room, it is the numbers game that is throwing them off course.
Quantity and quality are needed fast if Rovers are to end their goal drought.
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