Iñigo Calderón stated he was proud of his Bristol Rovers side after the Gas beat Cambridge United 1-0 in Sky Bet League One.
The Pirates were searching for their first win under the Spaniard and took the lead in the first half when Luke Thomas latched onto Scott Sinclair’s cross from the left and directed his downward header past Jack Stevens.
Isaac Hutchinson thought he had doubled Rovers’ advantage after the break. However, his goal was disallowed for offside. The visitors defended well against a U’s side that ended the contest with ten men after Michael Morrison’s red card to gain all the points.
Calderón reflected on the victory and stated that he is looking forward to getting more time on the training pitch with the players.
I’m so relieved...
“I’m so relieved,” said the head coach. “I like to win because it means that I don’t lose, and I hate losing. So, I feel a big relief because I think the boys need that, the Club needs that, I need that. It’s been chaotic but the boys have been good at the training ground.
“I could see the improvement in the atmosphere. It was a bit more positive. Even losing the other day against Leyton Orient, I thought we were in a good way. But at the end of the day, you need to win games.
“The boys did well because they knew when to play and when not to play, when you have to defend and when you have to do the ugly stuff. I think they did it perfectly. It is not easy to come here with the condition of the pitch and play the way they did. I’m so, so proud of them and I think they deserved it as well.”
We want to work on a lot of things now...
“I’m quite excited for more training sessions,” said Calderón. “It was no excuse, it was reality, we could not train at all. Yesterday we did ten minutes of a session because it was more about recovered players than training. For me, it is key now to have two weeks until the next [league] game so we can improve a lot of things.
“We want to work on a lot of things now. We have time now. For me, time is key, but you cannot ask for time, time, time. You have to play games, and you have to win them. That’s why for me it was important to win today. I said to the boys that it was massive today, massive to get three points.”
Everyone is taking their chance...
“I said when I arrived that all the players are going to have a chance,” he said. “I think that’s the good thing with that many games, they will have a chance, and everyone is taking their chance.
“That’s great for the team so that competition is going to be great. When I arrived, a few players were a bit down because they were not feeling part of the team and I didn’t like that. It's great as we have problems to pick the 11, and that’s great for the coach.”
Keeping a clean sheet like we did today is massive...
“Keeping a clean sheet like we did today is massive,” said the head coach. “You know that you are going to the next game, and you know that you do your best at the back, you’re going to keep a clean sheet. That’s massive as we know we are going to score goals for sure.”
