During the build-up to Rovers’ 42nd league game of the season, Tony Mowbray took some time out to speak with the clubs’ media team ahead of the Blues’ trip down to the west country, where they play visitors to Bristol Rovers.
“We’re looking alright in terms of injuries as we picked nothing up at Gillingham on Tuesday night. We’ve had a little concern with Elliott Bennett over the past couple of days, but he should be fine for Saturday as he trained during the week, as did Bradley Dack. Ryan Nyambe is edging closer to a return, but is yet to get back into training with the rest of the lads, so he’s out of my thoughts currently. Going back to Elliot Bennett, he’s done very well, filling in at right-back during Nyambe’s absence. He’s a versatile lad who can play anywhere you ask him to, whether that’s being as a full-back, a winger or in the centre of the park and that’s what makes him key for us. He has great athletic abilities and an aware football brain, which makes him suitable to play in various positions, as well as cover the ground the positions require. I’m delighted that he extended his stay at the club earlier on in the season, because he’s a key asset for us due to his many attributes.
“With 5 games left of the season, the mood around the place has been good and that’s mainly down to the great belief that we have amongst the players and the club as a whole. The players are training well, but we’ve tried to take the intensity out of the training due to the length of travel we have to do on buses and it’s not easy on the body, but we have to manage it as we need to perform to the best we can, yet it can’t use the travelling as an excuse. We aim to go to Bristol Rovers and come up with a performance that can give us 3 points as we count down the games.
“We know that, if we win our remaining 5 games, we’ll get over 100 points and we’ll be a Championship team and that’s our target. We have to finish the last 5 games off, regardless of how our opponents want to set up as I believe that our quality over 90 minutes, especially in the midfield, will come through and yet, particularly away from home, teams push you back and mount attacks which can threaten you. We, at times, relish that however, as it allows us to use our quality and hit them on the break with the speed of an Armstrong or an Antonsson. We can’t affect Wigan Athletic or Shrewsbury Town anymore, so we have to go out there, play our game and hope that other teams do us a favour. We’re probably only one poor performance, or result away from not having the promotion race in our own hands, but like I say, that’s not part of our plans, our plan is to win all of our remaining games and guarantee promotion to the Championship.”
The manager was asked about Saturday’s opponents and the threat that they posed as they come into this fixture, comfortably in mid-table, in 10th place in the league.
“We felt that, during the game we played at Ewood, that they carried a threat and that showed as they went ahead on the night, but we managed to fight back and win 2-1. All the teams in this division carry a threat. Bristol Rovers’ lad, (Ellis) Harrison has scored a few for them and built a reputation this year, but they’re a side built on a lot of good footballers, not just the centre-forward. We need to go there and impose our style and ability on them and we need to score when the chances rise.
“Dominic Samuel has found himself out of the side, mainly down to the goalscoring exploits of Danny Graham. Yet, if you think back to the start of the season, Danny was the one on the bench watching Dom score the goals but that’s the way we’re playing at the moment. Dom has to be patient and try and make an impact and grab the opportunity when it arises. It’s not always easy to sit on the bench for an hour, then come on and make an impact, but that’s what he has to do at the moment. I can only talk to him and try to give him good confidence, as a player’s confidence grows through his positive performances on the pitch. He did alright on Tuesday when he came on, he held the ball up well and got over the ball well, but saying that, he didn’t get a clear opportunity at goal, yet, as a centre-forward, he knows that he has to score goals to stay in the side. There’s no empathy from myself to give Dominic a start in order to try and get him a goal, because a striker on low confidence is less likely to score, that one who’s on high confidence. I don’t mind who scores the goals, but we have to win games, because the overall team function is all that matters.”
