Tom Anderson believes Rovers’ performance against Peterborough United shows they can compete with the best in the league as they prepare to host second placed Oxford United on New Year’s Day.
After suffering defeat on Sunday against Sunderland, Anderson feels Rovers are ready to bounce back on Wednesday against in form Oxford.
“Oxford are second in the league but we’ve shown that we can battle with the teams at the top and we’ve got to do that again,” he said.
“We’ve gone from a high of beating Peterborough to a low against Sunderland so we’ve just got to make sure we get back to what we did against Peterborough.
“Sometimes we have to do the ugly gritty bits of the game – it won’t always be pretty, especially at this time of the season where pitches can affect games. We’ve got to fight and earn the right to play football.”
Rovers were defeated by the U's in mid-October at the Kassam Stadium but Anderson feels Rovers have learned from their mistakes and things will be different this time around.
“We weren’t at our best on that day – they’re obviously a good team and we’ll have to make sure we’re at our best to give them a good match,” he added.
“We’ve got to make sure we learn from our game down there – we know what to expect this time so we’ll be ready and raring to go.
“It’s a tough test every week but we need to make sure we’re ready and prepare right for it. Rest it just as important as training at the moment, we have to do the work both on and off the pitch.”
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