Royle had been at it again in the build up to the match, having a go at us and the way we played (according to him) down at 
“Overall it was a functional performance from the team rather than spectacular,” said Royle. “Our keeper really didn’t have anything to do in the second half.
“We ground out the win I would say, but three points are always welcome and with
He then commented on the goals from Darren Bent, “His first was a cool finish and his second was a cracking shot that I don’t think two keepers would have saved. I cannot wait to see it on TV and it was good enough to win any game.”
Steve Cotterill surveyed the wreckage that is the injury list but was full of praise for the way his side had gone about their task.
“I’m disappointed,” he said. “In the first half we were by far the better team and the second was more ‘Even Stevens’ yet even at 2-0 we kept going.
“They scored two fantastic goals though and I think Bent is a wonderful player. He’ll probably go to the Premiership in the transfer window, it is a shame for our sake that he didn’t go in the summer.
“He was superb today. He isn’t too big to close full backs down and works the channels well. He is a class act and should be playing in the Premiership.
“
And then on to the injury situation, “We are missing too many players and we just cannot cope,” he admitted. “We’ll keep trying and battling on, but we will have to have these disappointments from time to time.
“We were without Ian Moore, Richard Chaplow, Jean-Louis Valois and Danny Coyne today and we can’t deal with that. It was just one game too far for us this week.
“John McGreal really shouldn’t have played. I saw his ankle at five to two and it was touch and go, but he wanted to play and did himself proud. He’s probably upset he didn’t hit his own high standards, but we were pleased with him.
“Graham Branch ended up at centre back and he could also have been missing and I almost had to put Yatesy on there today.
“Frank knew he had to come off, because if he carries on with a calf injury it could be six weeks. We’ll have to see how he is.”
Amadou Sanokho came on for his first real run out and Steve Cotterill said of him, “He didn’t do too badly considering he’s a two bob trialist.”
As to any new recruits to boost the stricken squad he said, “We might have to look and try to get another loan in next week, just to be able to get a team out.
But you are only allowed so many loans. We might rename ourselves Loans United or something.”
To next week and Spurs and he concluded, “I don’t even want to think about that yet. We just want to rest up and see how we all are first and then we’ll start planning. We’ll keep battling like we have all season though.”