Striker John Marquis finished the season as Rovers’ Golden Boot winner as he managed 15 goals in all competitions, bringing his Rovers total to 41 in 98 appearances since his move from Millwall, and he is happy to be one of the figureheads within the side.
“I’ve played almost 100 games over the last two seasons here and that shows how far I’ve come in my career really, I’m ready to take on that pressure and responsibility to be a player that people look up to in order to make that step up,” he said.
“Personally I feel I could have scored a few more and I should have put a few more chances away, maybe I could’ve been a bit sharper and not let defences catch on to me, but that again goes back to the fine margins and I’ve been working hard.
“I went for a long patch without scoring, I felt my form was good and I was playing well, I just couldn’t get the goal I was looking for, but that comes with the creativity around the squad too, but I relish the responsibility.”
Rovers faced Wigan Athletic on Saturday, with the Latics being crowned champions on the final day, after seeing Blackburn Rovers also promoted at the Keepmoat Stadium the week before, Marquis feels Rovers more than held their own against the division’s best.
“It wasn’t nice to finish the season on a defeat, but we’ve played against a very good Wigan side who have got goals in their team and are very solid at the back, we had good patches in the game but we couldn’t find a clear-cut opening,” he added.
“They had the attacking power to hit us on the break, they have a fantastic striker in Will Grigg, he saw the opportunity and he took one of his only chances very well, it’s similar to Blackburn the other week where they’ve had the quality to catch us out.
“We’ve seen two teams promoted on our patch, but we gave them both a really good game and I think that shows just how far we have come as a team, and maybe we aren’t as far off them as we think.”
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