'I shield my players, and I'll take responsibility. The players are not to blame; a lot of the time, it's me.'

Bristol Rovers manager Steve Evans said, "I take ultimate culpability for the results here," as the Gas look to end their four-match losing run in League Two, when they host Swindon Town on Saturday.

The Gas have also lost seven of their last matches in all competitions, which has seen them drop to 16th in the fourth tier, but know that a win against the Robins could lift them to sixth ahead of the 3pm kick-offs.

Discussing the recent form, Evans said: "Yeah, listen, it's been hard to take. As I said, what made me angry driving home the other night was how we perform away from The Mem rather than at The Mem because I know when we turn up at The Mem, I can rely on my players for stages in the game to be totally dominant and we've been every game this season at home, we've been dominant.

"But it's principally the same players away, but I take ultimate culpability for the results here, no one else. You see people sending mixed messages about whether Steve Evans is shying away from taking responsibility. They want to be in the building. I shield my players, and I'll take responsibility. The players are not to blame; a lot of the time, it's me.

"And I certainly can't look up the stairs because they've been fantastic and supportive, as they were for three or four managers before me, who said different things when they left. If I ever left the football club, I wouldn't say anything different."

Rovers face a Swindon side, who, before Tuesday night, had not scored an away goal and were winless in six League Two games. They travelled to a previously unbeaten Barnet and beat the Bees 3-1, thanks to goals from Mitch Clark and Aaron Drinan.

"Well, we'll probably know at about half-past two tomorrow when the game's over," Evans said when asked whether a West Country Derby is a good thing or not, given Rovers' current slump in form.

"What I do know is we're meeting a side that's gone to Barnet and produced a super performance. I've watched a full rerun of that and then edited highlights two or three times since.

"They thoroughly deserved to win, could have won by more in the end, although it has to be said, a bit like Barnet did to us, they rode their luck Swindon a little bit at 1-0, whereas Barnet did that here so. And if it comes over the course of the season, we're due to score a few goals against them."

The final question of Friday's press conference came from Bristol Live, who asked the 63-year-old what a win at a sold-out home crowd would mean to him. He replied: "I think a win at an empty Mem would be good for me, with where I am at the minute. I've never had a run like this as a manager; it's been unprecedented when we break it down how we've lost.

"You know I can understand every supporter, every player, every member of staff is bamboozled by what we're delivering away from home.

"But we shouldn't have lost the last two games at The Mem. Anyone who just says that if they watched that for 90 minutes, that we should lose to Barnet and they watched it for 90 minutes and we should lose to Salford, they don't know a lot about football. That's how I feel. But we need to produce the second half performance against Salford.

"And we need to produce the first 75 minutes against Barnet to beat Swindon and Swindon have had some notable results in recent weeks without getting recognised.

"Drawing with Walsall and should have won the game, and when you look at that, they should have won the game when you look at the highlights of that.

"And then a wonderful performance that was the result that everyone in League Two looked at on Tuesday night when they saw Swindon had gone to Barnet and won comfortably."

OPINION