With Rovers breaking the 10-game barrier, in terms of games remaining in the season, they next travel down to face Gillingham, who are 11th in the table. Tony Mowbray previewed the game with the clubs’ media team, where the 54-year old talked about the injuries within his squad, the race for the title of ‘top scorer’ in Rovers colours and Saturday’s opponents, Gillingham.
“Ryan (Nyambe) has a grade 2 hamstring tear, so he’ll be out for around 4-6 weeks, which is disappointing, but it’s part and parcel of football. The rest are creeping closer to a return. Harry Chapman is going to play for the under-23s on Friday night, Ben Gladwin isn’t quite ready to participate in that game as we think there isn’t a rush to get him back and potentially risk him getting another injury. Danny Graham was eager to train and hopefully he’ll be down south with us on Saturday. Ryan (Nyambe) is a young guy who still has a lot of development to do, there are a lot of aspects to his game which still need improvement, but he’s been a regular for us and he’s been doing well by learning as the season has progressed; we just have to get on with it, despite his injury.
“The reality of the situation is that we have injured players and we have to rotate them out for those who are able to play. Elliott Bennett did well at right-back after Ryan went off last week, meanwhile, Paul Caddis has been chomping at the bit to get back into the side. We have the ability and the strength to alter our formation, but the changes we make will reflect how we can best breakdown the opposition. My first thought, when Danny Graham went down, was that he fractured his rib, but thankfully that wasn’t the case. He’s going to train and we’ll monitor his progression. Saying that, he’s a big strong lad whose game is based around being physical. I’m delighted that he’s so eager to play on Saturday, but we have to get him through training today, unscathed. Danny scores goals and helps the team overall by working hard out of possession and I think he’s done what he’s renowned for doing and that’s being a focal point for the team at the top of the pitch. I think he’s enjoying his football and has bought into the demands of how we want to play. He’s an important leader on and off the pitch and I’m delighted that he wants to play.
“I think the positive relationship between Danny and Bradley (Dack) comes down to how much pool they play away from training(!) In all seriousness, I think they have a good rapport with each other and have a similar sense of humour, yet when it comes down to the football they both take it very seriously and professionally and they both work enormously hard for the team. Bradley, at 24, is a skilled player with high aspirations, as he wants to play at the highest level, whereas Danny, is a vastly experience forward who’s working extremely hard to enjoy more good moment in the game. I think, with them both being on 15 goals, they’ll be eyeing up the magical 20.”
The gaffer also talked about Gillingham and how he expected them to be tough opposition for Rovers, especially after their upturn in form, following the appointment of Steve Lovell, in mid-October.
“They are playing really well and changing their manager has seen their results dramatically improve. After studying their style of play, this week, it’s clear to see that they grind their results out, so we need to be prepared to be robust and deal with what they throw at us. It’s a long trip down to Gillingham, but we need to remain focused on the task at hand. Despite only seeing us fall to 1 defeat in the last 20-odd games or so, we need to go down there and respect them, but also execute our game plan which will allow us to return with all 3 points.”
