Max Watters believes his brace against Aston Villa U23s will give him confidence heading into the remainder of the season.
Rovers U23s ran out 4-0 winners over the Category One Academy side from Birmingham to secure their place in the knockout stages of the Premier League Cup.
“I thought it was a brilliant performance,” he said.
“We stayed compact, didn’t let them play out from the back and pressed well. It was good to get a couple of goals – it’ll boost my confidence a bit but it was the boys performance that helped me get the goals.
“We’ve had four wins out of five in this competition so we’re progressing well as a group. Gary McSheffrey has helped us a lot with the young lads coming through, so it’s been good.”
Watters has appeared off the bench for the first team in recent games and believes that 2019/20 has been his best season in a Rovers shirt.
“I’ve always said I want to push into the first team, get on the bench and try to get some minutes. From the start of December I’ve started to get that,” he added.
“Now I just need to push on even further. It’s a big year for me, I just need to keep pushing, keep working harder and hopefully it’ll pay off.
“It’s a big step up but it builds your confidence and gets you to strive to do better. Coming on against Sunderland was a brilliant experience, on Sky Sports as well, in a great stadium with a lot of fans. That was brilliant.”