Joel Senior demanded ‘togetherness’ at Bristol Rovers ahead of the Gas’ Sky Bet League One fixture against Birmingham City at The Memorial Stadium.
Rovers have lost their last three fixtures in the third tier and are only six points above the relegation zone with seven fixtures left to play this season, with Burton Albion and Crawley Town closest behind them in the battle for survival.
The Pirates’ previous defeat to Mansfield Town was particularly disappointing, with two mistakes helping the Stags to a 2-1 victory at The Mem. Romaine Sawyers had given the Gas some momentum after his strike from the edge of the box cancelled out Caylan Vickers’ early opener. However, Dom Dwyer struck the winner for the visitors just before the hour mark.
Senior was left frustrated with the result and has called on his side to bounce back on Tuesday.
“It’s obviously a frustrating one,” said the right-back. “We went into the game confident that we could get a good result, and obviously, it’s not panned out that way. It was a negative start, but I thought we got ourselves back into the game quite well with the first goal, and the game kind of died. There wasn’t really much in it.
“In the second half, I don’t think we started too well. We didn’t play forward enough, and then [their] second goal, and we lost a bit of momentum. It takes us too long to react to both of their goals, but especially the second. When we go behind the second time, maybe we’ve got to force something to happen in our favour, but we didn’t do that until later on in the game. We went into the game thinking that we could win, and it’s not happened. So, we need to bounce back. Obviously, we’ve got a game on Tuesday.”
Every game is massive going towards the end of the season at both ends of the table, with teams up and down the league looking to end the campaign strongly. In the Gas’ case, there are plenty of teams that are still fighting for survival, with plenty knowing they are currently not safe from relegation or still have hope that they can get themselves out of the drop zone.
Senior emphasised the importance of his side ‘fighting’ for everything and knows every fixture will be a challenge for the rest of the campaign.
“We’re fighting for our lives, as are the teams around us and below us,” he said. “We know it’s going to be a scrap, and every game’s going to be tough. Players are nervous. Fans are nervous. That’s just the position that we’re in. Everyone is going to feel a type of way about the situation. It’s not like you’re in the middle of the table and have nothing to play for.
"We’ve got to fight for every single ball that’s kicked. We can’t really think about the situation even though it’s going to be in the back of your mind because it might have a negative impact on us.”
Tuesday gives Rovers an immediate chance to regain their momentum, but there is not a tougher test in the third tier than Birmingham. Blues are pushing for an immediate return to the Championship and nine points clear at the top of the table with the additional bonus of playing two fewer fixtures than Wrexham in second place.
Senior insisted that his side must go into the game with the belief that they can win and that they must match Birmingham on every level to have a chance to secure a positive result.
“We’ve got to go in believing that we can win,” said the defender. “It’s going to be a tough game. They are at the top of the league for a reason. When were at their place, it was a really tough game. They showed us how good they are. We need to match them on every level to have a chance of winning the game, but we’ve got to believe in the players around us and ourselves to have a chance of winning the game.
“With our fans behind us, you never know what can happen in football. Crazier things have happened. For sure, we can come here and win with our fans. We’ve just got to have a mindset like that we can pick something up. They are top of the league, but we can’t be worrying about that going into the game on Tuesday.”
Despite Saturday’s disappointing result against Mansfield, the Gas have impressed against some of the top teams at The Mem. Back-to-back home triumphs over promotion hopefuls Huddersfield Town and Bolton Wanderers show exactly that, with Senior admitting there must be ‘togetherness’ from now until the end of the season.
“We’ve had some good results against teams at the top end of the table," he said. "So, we can take confidence from that. Especially at home. Other than today, we’ve had a good run of form at home, especially under the new manager.
“We’ve usually been good. So, we’ve got to improve the little details where it’s going wrong, but there’s seven games left after today. We’ve got to fight for everything. Fight for every game and make sure that we pick up some results.
“Probably togetherness [is the biggest thing]. Understanding the position that we’re in but being together as a team. I believe that we’ve got the quality in the group. The majority of the time, we’ve not shown it or come out second best, but we’ve shown that we are also capable of picking up good results and having good performances. Especially at home. We need to come with that attitude on Tuesday, and hopefully, we’re going to be fine.”
