Danny Schofield believes earning the right to play must be the primary focus for Rovers in every game.
Speaking to the media ahead of the trip to Swindon Town and on the back of a battling win over Tranmere Rovers in midweek, Schofield said winning the fight from the start provides a greater chance of success.
Schofield on the current standing in League Two:
“The review of the last game was really positive and ‘sticking in there’ is a good little affirmation that I like. That’s what the performance was.
“It’s all very tight in the league and I think that shows how competitive it is, how tough the opponents are. We need to win the fight in every game - that’s our main focus. If we do that then we believe it allows us to compete and go and get positive results.
“There’s a lot of teams in the position and there’s always one or two that go on a run. We’re working hard to be one of those teams - why can’t it be us? We know it’s going to be very competitive but it’s our focus to climb up the table.”
On facing Swindon:
“I think since the new manager has gone in there, it’s been 15 minutes of football that we’ve been able to properly analyse after the red card in the last game. I think we’ve got an understanding of how he wants his teams to play football because the first 15 minutes of that game was quite evident.
“There won’t be a great deal of analysis done on that opponent but what we do know is their style of play, the strengths and weaknesses of individual players and the threats they can cause. We’re aware of that but, as always, we’ll focus on what we can do in the game.”
On the health of the squad:
“It’s quite positive with Ben Nelson. Nothing showed up on the area that he felt he damaged so he returned to training on Thursday. We’ll see how he reacts to see whether we push him a bit more as we prepare for Swindon.
“Harrison Biggins has shown something up in an area in his glute so he’ll miss the Swindon game. Potentially it’ll be a bit longer but we’re not too sure. Speaking to him, he feels fine with it but the scan did show something. We’ll progress him over the next few days in terms of his conditioning on the pitch and see if he reacts to anything from it. Hopefully it’ll be positive news on that front as well.
“Tommy Rowe didn’t need a scan. It was just an impact injury. He’s recovered really well with the recovery session he had and he felt much better on Thursday morning. We’ll see how he is over the next few days to see if he’s ready for Saturday.”
On the hunt for more clean sheets:
“I think we have proven that we can defend really well and keep clean sheets. It’s about doing that on a more consistent basis. We speak about moments in the game both in attack and defence and where we have come unstuck is in those moments. We’ve not been outplayed to concede goals.”
On the backing of supporters:
“I’ve spoken quite openly about how important the fans and their support is to us. They help us perform and thrive in games. A lot of it has been positive and when I arrive at games supporters have said to me that they’re behind what we’re trying to do.
“That’s great for me personally. Every human being needs to be told that and it’s really pleasing. We need to focus on that, have the fans with us in what trying to do. We’re trying to build something at this football club and sometimes that does need a bit of time.”
On discussions with the board:
“There’s always discussion about how we can align things, how we can move forward together and the vision we have for this football club. Every vision is to try to get promoted through the leagues - that’s ultimately what we’re all trying to do.
“It’s how we can try to do that, whatever the resources are. That’s my full focus and control. Every morning when I have a discussion with my staff about how I want to prepare the week and day, it’s about what we can control - which is influence the players, improve the players, to try to improve the team, standards and behaviours. The facilities at the training ground - what can we change or tweak?
“We have discussions. We want to be aligned and we want to try to achieve something together."
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