James Wilson insisted Bristol Rovers' form at The Memorial Stadium will be 'vital' after the Pirates beat Peterborough United 3-1 in Sky Bet League One.
The Gas collected their third win in five games in the third tier and their second consecutive triumph at home. Wilson handed Rovers a first-half lead before the second-half scorers in the Pirates 3-1 triumph over Barnsley emerged again.
Isaac Hutchinson got onto Grant Ward’s pass and struck his effort into the net off the post before Ruel Sotiriou fired in the third to give Iñigo Calderón’s men a three-goal lead. Ricky-Jade Jones got one back for the visitors in the latter stages, but Rovers held onto their advantage to go above the Posh in the table.
Wilson was pleased his side could collect another victory at The Memorial Stadium after a difficult week but insisted that there is room for improvement.
“It’s great,” he stated. “It’s been a tough week. Obviously, we had a good result last time we were at home, and we wanted to back that up as we didn’t manage to do that last week. We’re really happy with the result today.
“We got a lot wrong as well that we need to work on, but it’s because we’re trying to change the way we play and do different things. I think, hopefully, people can be patient with us, and we can start picking up more points.
"We’re just going to get better, hopefully, so we’re really happy today."
Wilson got the positive afternoon going with a close-range finish, getting onto the end of Matt Butcher’s corner to claim his second goal of the season. It was an immediate impact from Butcher, who Wilson won the League One title with at Plymouth Argyle in the 2022-23 campaign.
The centre-back confessed the team have worked on getting in the right places to score during the week and is glad Butcher is at the Club, with the midfielder joining on loan from Wycombe Wanderers earlier this week.
“It was a great ball,” said Wilson. “We’ve been working on getting in good areas and trying to arrive. I thought we were close on a lot today. I thought the set pieces were really good, so I was really happy to get the goal.
“I’m really glad Butcher is here. He’s a good friend of mine. We had some great times together, so I knew what kind of player he was and what he could bring to the team. I think he showed that today on his first game, definitely.”
Rovers are looking to build momentum at home under new head coach Calderón, collecting back-to-back wins and scoring six goals in the process. Like during the win over Barnsley, the fans were lifted after the Pirates gained a first-half lead and played a huge role in helping the team to all three points.
Wilson is adamant that the form at The Memorial Stadium is important and wants Rovers’ home to become a fortress.
“I think we’ve said that our home form is going to be vital,” he stated. “I think in the last couple of games, we’ve really attacked teams, and hopefully that can continue.
“I think they [the fans] just enjoyed the game and the way we are trying to play. Obviously, it’s not perfect, but hopefully, they see that we’re trying to work on things, and their support is going to be so helpful.
“We really want to make this a hard place to come to, and it can be with the fans behind us. It’s a really tough play here. It can be great; we just need everyone's support. The next two games are massive again.”
