Andy Butler relished the battle in Saturday's scrappy 1-0 win at Bradford City - as he helped the defence keep a vital clean sheet.
Mallik Wilks' second-half goal meant Rovers made it three successive wins in Sky Bet League One, and Butler came off the pitch beaming after the defensive solidarity shown by his side.
"It wasn't a pretty game but as defenders and goalkeeper those are the ones we love. Tackling, blocking and clearances – as a defender, you love those games," he said.
"I enjoy it when we score lots of goals but, as a defender, I like coming to teams who are battling like Bradford and when you get a 1-0 result it's so pleasing. It shows how hard we work at the back as well. We've got some really good players in defence: Tom Anderson, Danny Andrew, Matty Blair, Marko Marsoi, they all put a shift in.
"Like the gaffer said, it's not a spectacle but I don't think anyone will go away from that game and say that there's any player who didn't give 100%, and in doing that, we've earned three points."
With just five matches remaining, the hold on the final play-off place is growing and Butler believes the battling 1-0 win demonstrated a different side to Rovers' game.
"There are two sides to every team. We don't always keep clean sheets but we usually score a lot of goals, but games like this show we can do the defensive side too," he added.
"I thought we kept our shape ever so well, the two holding midfielders – Tommy Rowe and Ali Crawford – did really well to nullify Bradford's midfield and it worked for us.
"We don't beat ourselves up if we lose and we won't jump around because we've won. It's another three points which helps us get to where we want to go, that's how you have to look at it. No one can get ahead of themselves, we haven't done anything yet – there are five games left and if they go well, we get to the play-offs."
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