Darren Moore felt his side’s work off the ball was what earnt them three points against Oxford United in Sky Bet League One.
Reece James scored the only goal of the game to secure a winning start to 2020 for Rovers, and the manager praised a disciplined performance.
He said: “It was a satisfying win because we feel we have beaten a really good team in Oxford who have been in great form recently.
“We only had a short time to prepare so the majority of our work was done in the classroom and I thought we got our tactics spot on.
“The game was won with our work off the ball, the boys stuck to our plan and that was really pleasing to see.”
After taking six points from a possible nine over the festive period, Moore says his team have shown what they are capable of.
He added: “At the end of the Christmas period when the mind and body is tired we had to get the boys through one more game before a bit of a gap.
“We’ve picked up two wins over the festive period and I think six points is a decent return considering the teams we have faced.”