Bristol Rovers must use Birmingham “performance” against Bolton

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Daniel Wales and Charles Hague-Jones discuss Bristol Rovers’ next game against Bolton Wanderers.

Transcript

00:00And Dan, looking at Bristol Rivers' next game, Bolton away from home. Bolton aside, competing

00:07in the top six and competing for those playoff places. You know, a rare chance to do a double

00:13in the league this season, obviously a 3-2 home win just a month or so ago. What's the

00:20sort of take going into this one? They're on the back of a terrible form, as we've mentioned.

00:25How do you see this one going? Well, you have to imagine they'll take the confidence that

00:30they had in the win against Bolton at the Memorial Stadium, just as you say, not long

00:34ago at all. A 3-2 win against a good Bolton side, let's not forget as well, who are much

00:40higher up on the table than they are. So you've got to take that into the game. And obviously,

00:45you've got to take the performance against Birmingham City into that game as well. And

00:48if you do both of those, you give yourself at least enough chance against a good side.

00:53So it's just about replicating these performances. I think we probably sound as if we're repeating

00:59ourselves an awful lot when it comes to Bristol City, sorry, Bristol Rovers. But when you're

01:03in a relegation scrap, that's just sort of how it goes. Because clearly, if you're in

01:08this sort of situation, you're not being consistent enough with your results and performances.

01:12And the only key to getting out of it is to be consistent. I mean, Bristol Rovers certainly

01:16have good players in their squad. You know, you look at the likes of Romain Sawyers, Gatlin

01:20Odonka, and you think, well, these are players who can do it. And then you've got Scott Sinclair,

01:26a seasoned pro as well. So they've got the firepower and they've got the quality. It's

01:31just working out why it isn't always happening for them. And obviously that is on an eagle

01:37calderon, but he seems just as perplexed as everyone else because he's continuously saying

01:42that they're having good weeks of training as well. So something is going wrong from

01:46the training session into the match. And that in itself is just a hard one to work

01:50out. I mean, if you look at the Mansfield game, though, for example, that was just two

01:54really, really poor errors to concede both those goals. One really early and then one

01:59a bit later on in the game as well. And then there's three points gone, no points picked

02:03up against the side where you probably could have done a little bit better given the fact

02:07that you'd got yourself back into that game as well. But two hideous errors for the goals

02:12that they conceded. So I think for Bristol Rovers, it's just a case of obviously cutting

02:17out errors for one. That's always going to be a good start, but just making sure the

02:23desire is there, the effort is there, and carrying what they've done in training through

02:29the week into the performance on a Saturday. As I say, if an eagle calderon keeps saying

02:34that the training sessions are good, then why is it not always happening on a Saturday?

02:37That's what he's got to work out. That's what the players also got to work out and look

02:40at themselves and think, if things seem good during the week, why aren't they suddenly

02:45good on a Saturday? Is that a mentality thing? Is it just an effort thing? Or is it just

02:49because the confidence is so low? Confidence is a big thing in football, but certainly

02:55it's something that needs to be sorted out really very quickly.

02:58Yeah, and they are on the road three more times in the remaining run-in. Just 11 points

03:04all season in the league on the road. Three wins, two draws, 15 losses in League One,

03:12which is probably a key factor to put them there. But then also you look at the goals

03:15scored away from home and only 11 and conceding 37. I mean, a minus 26 goal difference on

03:22the road this season. Do you feel that's been the real factor as to why they are where they

03:27are? And they've got to be looking at these three remaining away games and thinking anything

03:32but a loss is a positive. Bolton, Wrexham and Blackpool on the final day. It could all

03:38go down to the wire, but that away form has certainly not put them in a great position

03:43this season.

03:44Yeah, anything but a loss on the road now would be seen as a positive, as you say there.

03:49Wrexham will be a tough game because they're vying for promotion as well from League One.

03:53Bolton, obviously we've mentioned that. They've got that sort of psychological maybe edge

03:56over them because given that they beat them at the MEM not too long ago. So you think

04:01if you go there, you can get a point. It's a positive. Then you can take that into the

04:04Wrexham game. Then Blackpool having an OK season, you know, nothing spectacular. But

04:10so you think they'll obviously be then after the last day of the season. So you think,

04:14well, if it's still coming down to that, that could be a really nervy encounter.

04:17So I think they've got to target these two games on the road against Bolton first and

04:23then Wrexham just to just to not lose. And then hopefully that their home form carries

04:26them before they get to this Blackpool game so that they're in a good enough situation

04:30where they don't have to be really, really nervous and anxious ahead of that Blackpool

04:35fixture. Because if you're doing that, going into that game, needing something, knowing

04:40how bad your away form has been, that doesn't put them in good stead whatsoever.

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