Matt Taylor insisted that the mood around the squad is bright ahead of Bristol Rovers' trip to Reading in Sky Bet League One on Saturday.
The Gas collected their third victory in four Sky Bet League One outings on Tuesday night, beating Shrewsbury Town thanks to a fantastic first-time finish from Jamie Lindsay into the top-left corner.
It was also the Pirates' fourth win in the third tier in six outings at The Memorial Stadium, equaling their best home start since the 2017/18 campaign. Rovers now travel to a Reading team that they have not beaten since 1999.
Taylor previewed the game against the Royals, discussed Rovers' form and provided team news.
MOOD IN THE SQUAD
"The mood is bright," said Taylor. "It always is after three points. It was a generally positive performance as well and we know what the last ten minutes felt like.
"As always, it was always a little bit nerve-wracking, and we had to ride out luck to a certain extent, but it was a positive night for this group of players and the football club."
READING PREVIEW
"Reading are one of the form teams, but we have won three out of four, which isn’t bad for ourselves," said the manager. "I know there was a cup game amongst that and a performance at Huddersfield Town, but nine points from 12 available in the league has put us in a better position than we have been previously.
"We go to a form team in Reading, a strong home team and a good team with a bit of confidence behind us and with the belief we can go there, compete and put on a performance, which will hopefully give us a points return.
"We are consistently going to these big clubs with a bigger history with previous Premier League and Championship pedigree. But we have a group of players who I certainly believe in.
"I fully trust them this weekend, even sat here on a Thursday afternoon and I hope and expect us to put something in this weekend, which gives the players a real return."
SCORING GOALS AND CREATING CHANCES
"We’re scoring goals and creating chances," said Taylor. "Not just because it’s on Sky, but I’m hoping with the two teams involved and the young players on the pitch that it’s a great advert for League One football. But, as much as you want a good advert, you still want a great outcome."
INJURY NEWS
"There’s no major injury news," he said. "There’s fatigue, stiffness, tightness and a couple of sore heads for the right reasons on the back of Tuesday. There are a few bodies that were certainly pushed to the limit and probably more minutes from some of the players coming into the team.
"Ruel Sotiriou and Shaq Forde hadn’t played that amount of minutes. Promise is backing up an awful lot of minutes at the moment. So, we’ll really assess them in the next 24 hours to see who can go out there and run as hard as they can for as long as they can until told otherwise and the game stops.
"I don’t think we’ll be able to pick the same team, judging where some of them are at today, but I’m certainly looking forward to seeing how we can get that energy on the pitch."
