Adam Clayton believes beating early pacesetters Leyton Orient would give Rovers a significant confidence boost to drive them forward this season.
The Rovers skipper says an injection of confidence will bring out levels in the squad that have perhaps not been seen so far this season.
On the defeat at Hartlepool:
“We wanted to win the game and definitely not lose it. They had new manager syndrome and were all up for it. They were right at it.
“Probably, maybe, we could have taken a point. But in the second half we got hold of the game, worked it out, had some good chances and thought we could have won it.
“I thought we deserved to win it with the second half. They had the first. We kick ourselves for not taking our medicine and taking the point, making it a four point week and three games without a defeat.
“We’re a young side and we learn from these things. We go into a big game on Saturday and try to get as many points as we can.”
On putting in a full performance as a team:
“If people are saying we haven’t done that and we were a point off fourth place at the start of Tuesday, then I’m looking forward to seeing us when we have brought it all together.
“We have got some new faces and it might be the case of ten or 15 games in, we do need to start putting it together.
“You’ll see that. We’ve played all the top teams in the league and we were in that position.
“We obviously don’t like to lose. Hartlepool, in the position they were in, it was a three game stretch for us where we wanted to take maximum points. With how the game played out we should have taken the point and made it seven from three.
“We move on into a top game on Saturday, looking to win.”
On the current injury situation:
“Everyone wants the so-called more experienced players or starters out there every week but that’s football. That’s how players get the chance to show what they can do.
“When I started my career at Leeds, if everyone had been fit all the time then I wouldn’t have had my chance. It’s about the lads taking their chance and hopefully they build their own careers from there.
“And when the experienced players are back, they’ve got a fight on to get in the team.
“With players out, the players that come in are more than capable and the faith the manager has shown in them has been great.
“We have no excuses to be given for people being out.”
On players stepping up following Lee Tomlin’s retirement:
“You look at people like Max Woltman who play in that position, he’ll have learned a hell of a lot from Lee while he was here.
“Maybe he could be the one that steps up in the number ten-ish position. He’s certainly got the ability, we see it every day in training.
“It could be Max’s time to go or someone else’s. It’s football. One in, one out and we move on.
“We obviously send all our love to Lee.”
On the test of Leyton Orient:
“They’ve had a brilliant start. They play really nice football.
“They’ve just been beaten, which is a good thing mentally for the teams coming up against them because they know they can be beat at this level.
“It’s a good challenge. It’s one I’m excited for more as a group because when this group is confident, it’s as good as anyone in the league.
“A chance to prove that to everyone mentally, if we can go and get a good performance and a good win against the top team in the league at the moment, I think it’ll hold us in good stead.
“When this group is confident and at it, it’ll be a hard team to stop.”
On giving back to the fans:
“The support has been brilliant this season from the fans. I’ve mentioned it a few times in my programme notes.
“I feel like there is a real connection, especially when we win games and everything is rosey.
“When we lose games, they expect more. I’ve played for quite a few Yorkshire teams and Yorkshire fans are very demanding people. It’s because they spend their money on coming to watch us.
“We owe them a good performance and I’m sure they’ll all want one on Saturday against the top of the league because when we’ve won games at home this season, the atmosphere has been brilliant.”
On confidence in achieving goals this season:
“We’re very confident. People may say we haven’t produced the performances this season but we’re in a good position so when it does click together, we don’t have far to climb.
“We’ve played a lot of the top teams in the division and fared really well.
“We had a back week of the season where we lost three games but other than that we’ve been quite consistent with results.
“It’s about putting it together. People like Kyle Hurst who is ten games into his career, he’s only going to get better. Luke Molyneux, if we can get him a goal, he’s going to turn into a top player.
“We’ll take the tag of ‘not quite hitting the heights’ and we’re still doing okay. We’re in a good position to move forward.”