Rovers finally win under Calderón: Cambridge United 0-1 Bristol Rovers

Daniel Wales and Charles Hague-Jones look back at Bristol Rovers’ latest win.

Transcript

00:00Dan, looking at Bristol Rovers, now obviously Inigo Calderon coming in and not quite getting

00:09that manager bounce straight away, but he has sort of got his first win in a real struggling

00:17table for them this season in League One. They have sort of just got out of the relegation

00:22zone with it as well, five points clear of Crawley as we speak. I mean, what sort of

00:26boost will that give Bristol Rovers ahead of the rest of this campaign? It's such a

00:31tough division this year with the likes of Birmingham City in there, Huddersfield, Reading,

00:36Barnsley, there's some big sides in there really that are all sort of championship outfits.

00:41Obviously, Shrewsbury Town just below them as well having a real bounce as well and looking

00:46to get straight out of it as well. So, it's quite competitive down the bottom of League

00:50One as well. How do they look to push on after this first win?

00:54Well, it's just that they've got to win, to be honest. That's really important for them

01:01because under Inigo Calderon, they hadn't, as you say there, had that new manager bounce.

01:05It had been a real struggle for them. They'd put in better performances, they'd been scoring some

01:09goals, but ultimately that win had still evaded them. You think of a 3-2 loss against Leighton

01:15Orient, for example. So, it showed that there were green shoots there, there were signs of

01:19positivity, but ultimately the three points were still not quite there. But it's come this time

01:24away at Cambridge United, Luke Thomas getting the goal and that's really important for them,

01:31just for confidence reasons, just for a bit of feel-good factor out the club because even though

01:36the new manager had come in, as I say there, they were still struggling and nothing had

01:41massively changed results-wise and that was the real issue. Performances can be as good as you

01:44want if you're not picking up the results, it doesn't really matter. But the result has finally

01:49come and you've just got to hope for them that it sets a new precedent at the club because

01:54it has been a struggle this season and you're right there. There are some really, really good

01:59sides in League One and Bristol Rovers, you know, no disrespect to them, but they are a bit of a

02:06small fish in a big pond, given some of the relative spending power, I think, is the best way

02:11of putting it in terms of other clubs and the experience that other clubs have had at higher

02:16levels of English football as well, albeit years gone by, but just that know-how and Bristol Rovers

02:23haven't really had that because they're coming up from League Two in the last couple of years and

02:28trying to establish themselves as a League One club and, of course, survival

02:33happened last year, it's going to be a struggle again this year, but if they can do it, it'll be

02:38a real achievement for them and you've just got to hope that that win gives them, the players,

02:43the staff, everyone around the club the boost that they need to kick on and start picking up

02:48results here and there. They're hoping for what's got to improve, but that's a really good away win

02:53against Cambridge United.