We can get out of trouble, says Trinity goalscorer

Goalscorer Rothery said the heavy loss was not a true reflection of the game as managerless Trinity overcame an early red card for keeper George Willis and matched the home side for more than an hour.

But the defeat left the visitors, who were led on Saturday by caretaker manager Adam Quinn, just one point clear of the bottom three.

Rothery said: “Obviously we are down there and in a relegation battle. We need to start picking up points and quickly but, if we put in performances like at Bradford, have 11 men for most of the game and get a bit of luck, I don’t see why we can’t pick up the wins that we need to get us out of trouble.

Rothery equalised at the start of the second half to give Trinity hope of an unlikely point after they had fallen behind to a first half penalty, conceded when Willis was dismissed for a clash with a Bradford Park Avenue striker.

That meant the visitors, who did not have a keeper on the bench, had to play for around 70 minutes with full back Bradley Beaton in goal.

Rothery said: “Obviously the sending off after 20 minutes totally spoilt the game.

“To say we had 10 men for such a long time, we gave a good account of ourselves.

“When you look at the scoreline, 5-1, it doesn’t look good, but you (should) take into consideration the way we played and that the scoreline was 1-1 after 60 minutes and we had a chance to go 2-1 up,

“We played quite well, kept the ball in patches and created a few chances. We looked the better team in patches.

“Most of the goals came in the last 10 or 15 minutes and when you consider that we didn’t have a substitute keeper, we gave a good account of ourselves.”

Rothery’s equaliser was his first goal since August and he said it felt good to score, but it was disappointing his strike did not lead to any points for the visitors.

“I was buzzing and it got us back into the game,” he said.

The home side won the points with four goals in the last half hour.