Manager Paul Dickov told Rovers Player that he thought Bradford City were a team that would test his side and the game against them was chosen for that reason.
Rovers ran out 2-1 victors at the Coral Windows Stadium, however Dickov admitted that his side were a little sloppy at times during the game.
“We knew that it was going to be a tough game, that’s why we wanted it,” he said
“Bradford are a big physical team who are on a high, a bit like ourselves. They are a team who like to get the ball forward early and their front two were a handful so it was a good test for us.
“For the majority of the game it was ok; we played some good stuff especially in the first half but second half we got really sloppy in our play.
“I said to the boys if you think back to the chances we created and the problems we caused Bradford it was when we moved the ball one and two touch.
“We caused ourselves problems when we took too many touches on the ball and didn’t switch the play properly. When you do that against teams that are going to work hard against you, especially in the Championship, you will get found out.”
Rovers ended the pre-season schedule unbeaten, and Dickov admitted that doing so can give his team confidence going into the league campaign if they carry on playing the right way.
“It breeds confidence,” he said
“The more games you can win the better going into the season, but as I’ve said before I’ve played in teams that have won all their pre-season games and got off to a bad start and teams that have lost every game and had a good start.
“The main thing is to try and implement the way that we want to play.”