Striker John enjoying going to battle.
John Marquis has explained that he won’t step back from “the edge” when in the heat of the battle.
Rovers’ summer signing has notched four goals this campaign but has won far more admirers for his no nonsense approach, notably putting his head above the parapet in a 2-0 victory over Newport County AFC last week.
“I don’t want to change because I don’t feel like I need to. I’ll be honest; I do play on the edge a little bit sometimes in terms of the physical side,” he said.
“You’ll often see me and defenders go at it properly for 95 minutes, words will be exchanged, battles will be done but at the end of the game I’ll always shake their hand. I’m always happy and willing to have good battles with good players.
“The other day they just fancied having a kick at me but I enjoyed it really because when you’re 2-0 up, it’s a lot nicer feeling them kicks than when you’re losing so I can understand where their frustration comes from but I did enjoy the last part of the game, it would have been nice to score but in terms of how we managed the game at the end, that was good, we saw the game through pretty comfortably.
“We’ve got so many people who are prepared to work hard for each other and especially at this level, you need ability but if you’re willing to go through a brick wall for your mate there’s nothing more you can really ask for.
“There’s going to be some long, cold Tuesday nights up in Carlisle and stuff like that but every single one of us will be there and be ready to go to battle with any team and hopefully our football comes through because I believe we’ve probably got the best squad of players here as well as well as the most hard working team in the league so combine them both and I think we’ve got a good chance.”
Marquis actually apologised to members of the press for his lateness to a pre-match press conference, but explained it was due to the extra volume of training he’d undertaken ahead of Saturday’s trip to face Luton Town at Kenilworth Road.
“We’ve got a lot of hard working players and I feel that my fitness levels, the more I play, will allow me to get fitter and fitter so you get in to a rhythm of playing and training, playing and training and working hard which is why I was late today because I was doing some extra but that’s something you choose to do as a player,” he admitted.
“At the moment, when we’re winning games, you see a lot of us doing extra work and trying to improve and that’s not because we’re told to do it, it’s because we want to and the players that are in the team want to stay in the team and the players that aren’t want to make push us and make an impression to try and get in the team!
“You need that hunger and competition for places which we need as every single player in that dressing room will be needed to help get our goal which is to help us achieve promotion.
“I’ve played at Luton before, it’s a funny little ground. It can be quite hostile as they get a good number of fans down there so its going to be a good game. It may come down to that extra bit of quality or whoever fancies it most on the day but for hard work and determination I fancy us over them.”