Manager Dean Saunders told Rovers Player that his side are ready for the visit of Crewe Alexandra, this evening, after last weekend’s break from the league campaign for the FA Cup.
‘We’re ready for the game,’ he said.
‘You can see the players have been giving everything on the pitch. The effort and the determination that the players are showing at the moment shows me that they feel that they have got a chance of doing something good this year - they are fighting for it and if we do really well this year they have got a chance to move their career on as well.
‘At the moment the team spirit is really good, they are all fighting for each other and we’re getting results so we have got to keep doing what we have been doing.
‘We started the season well and we’ve carried that on. I don’t think we’ve had a rocky patch really but we’re not going to win every game. The platform that we have got is solid, there’s some good characters in the group and we’re defending well; we’ve only let four goals in from open play all season.’
Dean spoke highly about tonight’s opponents and the way that the club continue to nurture players through their academy into the first team and further.
‘They’re a good footballing team,’ he said
‘They play the way they have been doing for years; even when I was playing they played the same way and they develop players.
‘They have sold Ashley Westwood to Aston Villa for £2m and Nick Powell to Manchester United for, reportedly, £4m in the summer so they’ve lost their two best players, but they have still got Max Clayton and Ajay Leitch-Smith who are their two strikers and are probably next ones on that list for them.
‘They continue to develop players and bring them through the system, I have watched them play quite a lot because my son is there playing in their U18’s side.
‘They teach all the players to play properly so if we let them play we will be in for a tough evening.’