Gary McSheffrey has urged the Rovers squad to carry the positivity of the training ground into matchdays as they look to pick up much-needed points against Wycombe Wanderers.
Rovers travel to Adams Park on Saturday seeking to cut the gap to safety in Sky Bet League One.
The manager has again been pleased with the standard of training during the week but insists that only counts if his players deliver the same levels in competitive action.
McSheffrey on assessing his time in charge so far:
“There’s definitely been some positives and improvements but then there are other things that clearly need improving. I’m not oblivious to that and I’m not going to pretend that there’s not improvements that need making.
“There’s been good positives and there’s been some real lows as well.
“But we keep building and I feel that we’re in a better environment, a better training environment. I feel the lads enjoy coming into work.
“But we just have to take that confidence and positivity they show in the week on the training ground and take it onto the pitch. They need to believe in themselves and back themselves more that they can perform.
“The last few performances haven’t really been to the intensity we’ve been looking for. It was a disappointing March.
“We’ve had another decent week on the training ground. The lads are looking good and we go to Wycombe with the attitude that we can cause them problems.”
On the challenge of Wycombe:
“You go there on Saturday and you have to respect what they’re good at.
“What they are good at is being relentless in how they play. They get shots off, they get balls into your box, they get the ball forward quickly and get runners off strikers and midfielder runners in behind.
“You’ve got to play what teams give you and what you’re up against. And you’ve got to find ways of getting the points on the day.
“They’re always up there. They’ve had a taste of the Championship and they’ll be desperate to get back in the play-off spots.
“It’s one that we go into feeling we know how they play and it’s about whether we can stop that and implement our bits of play.”
On the players returning from international duty:
“Mipo [Odubeko] and Ethan [Galbraith] have had training camps, games and travelling as well so we just gave them a light session in training on Thursday.
“We’ll assess them and see how they are for the weekend.
“I’ve had a good chat with Mipo. He enjoyed his international experience, starting the game for Republic of Ireland U21 and he felt he did okay.
“He feels freshened up and ready to go and I’ve said it’s time for him to add some impact for us.”
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