Rovers shifted into gear to avoid an FA ‘Cupse’ at home to League One’s Cambridge United, which left Jon Dahl Tomasson relieved and satisfied with his players’ dominating performance as the Danish boss saw his side advance to the Fourth Round of the FA Cup for the second consecutive campaign. The former striker revealed to RoversTV that he was delighted that his players managed to overcome their early setback to be in the hat for the next round.
“I’m delighted with the win, today. Everyone knows how much I love the FA Cup and we had a great run in the competition last season, as we did in the Carabao Cup this season. We want to do that again, this season. We also know that when you play a team in a lower division, they are capable of suddenly raising their quality and make it a difficult game for the higher team to play in; we see that every time these games happen. We’re disappointed with the goals we’ve conceded, today. We should have done better there. I think the fans played an important role, as when we went behind, they stayed behind the team and supported the lads. Of course, (Sammie) Szmodics. What can I say about him? A great first hattrick for Rovers and probably the first of his career, it was quality.
“In the first-half, I thought we played a little bit too slow and kept passing sidewards, which didn’t help. At half-time, we spoke about improving in the second-half and we came out and played excellently. The second period was a top-class performance, scoring five goals in total was great and it could have been ten! We played great football, created a lot of chances and if you can score the goals that we did at this level, the team is doing a brilliant job, so they deserve a lot of credit. They managed to stay in the game, first of all, which was good and then they coped with that pressure in the second-half to go on and win the game. In the end, we managed to get young 15-year-old, Rory Finneran his first game at this level. The academy have done great work with him, so congratulations to the staff there, but also congratulations to Rory and his family. It’s great to see Yasin (Ayari) getting his first minutes after signing for us during the week. Of course, (Patrick) Gamble played for us previously, but he also deserved some minutes in the first-team given the way he’s been training and his attitude around the building; he’s a great lad.
“Despite all of that great positivity, it’s sad to say that we have a player leaving, in James Hill. He’s a player who’s done great for Rovers, he’s a great character and a leader who will become a very good player in the future. I’m disappointed to lose him, because we all know that we lost Daniel Ayala and Ashley Phillips in the summer and only one came in – in James – in a position where we’re stretched already. It’s disappointing that he’s being recalled by Bournemouth, but hopefully the club will be able to help the team and the players with new faces.
“Szmodics is probably in the form of his life! He’s probably enjoying the way we’re playing and the way we create chances, it suits how he wants to play. The quality that he has in running in behind is amazing, the timing and the quality of his runs are great and his finishes are brilliant. The ball often finds him and he finds the goal. Even when he does miss chances, he’s not disappointed or sulking, he continues to push for the next opportunity. He’s a positive character in the dressing room, but he also takes a lot of responsibility as a vice-captain on the pitch.
“Firstly, we wanted to increase the lads’ confidence, which is why we chose a strong team. I think they’ll gain a lot of confidence from this win. Secondly, we have a lot of injured players, nine of them are not able to involved, which means I’m not able to rotate a lot and I think this cup run is important. England is the only country where the cup still holds importance and value. I like that. I like the togetherness and the memories that we can create with our fans, I think that’s part of football as is the passion, so it’s great to be in the next round.
“When you’re in such great form, you feel like you’re flying and you play with high confidence. If you have that attitude and also the hunger to want more, which Sammie has, then a lot of the time you will get the rewards your efforts deserve. He will keep on pushing and he is never satisfied with what he’s achieved. If he scores one and misses one, he will keep going. He always wants more, which is a great attitude to have.
“Rory (Finneran) is Rovers’ youngest ever player, that’s amazing! Compliments to him, his family and our academy staff, as I have said. We have a great connection in the first-team with our academy, which is very important. Everyone can see that there is a pathway and opportunities to grow and potentially get into the first-team. Rory has great quality on the ball, great vision and can play with both feet. He’s still 15, of course, which is very young, but I think it was a good moment to give him a nice experience. He will continue smiling for the next week after today!
“Every day is an opportunity to improve and become a better player. If you don’t have that mindset, that’s the worst thing for a player. You need to have the hunger to become a better player. You need to say to yourself every day, before you go to training: ‘I need to be the best, today and put in maximum effort’. That’s the right attitude to have if you want to be the best at something and play at the highest level. Championship level is a great level, but it’s not the highest. That’s the right attitude to have and, of course, that’s usually the difference between players who play at the highest level and do the right thing eight or nine times out of ten and average players who do the right thing four or five times out of ten. Young players need to also, learn, to do the right thing which is an attribute that develops over time with experience, which is why we should never blame the young players when they make a mistake on the ball. You should blame me, the coach, because individual errors always happen at that age.
“Rory has a lot of potential. He can see things quicker than a lot of people can, which is a quality. That means he’s good at decision-making. He can also play with both feet which is another quality. The best players in the world, can make the best decisions quickly, because football is a quick game, yet still he also needs to develop a lot, but I know that he has the right attitude. I always wanted to give Rory and Patrick the opportunity to play, if the scoreline was right, because it was a great opportunity for both to get valuable minutes.
“Having that winning feeling breeds confidence. We all know that we’ve been extremely stretched in December and it’s been a tough month for us. I think the players who have been playing have done their best in a stretched squad. Against Rotherham United, the players played extremely well. Yes, we gave two goals away, but they played really, really well and we should have won that game. Today, we won our first game of 2024, and the players deserve great credit for that. The fans also deserve credit today, because they helped us through a tough start at the beginning of the game. After those tough moments, I thought it was a brilliant game.”
