Following their 1-0 win at the Bolt New Lawn on Saturday over Cheltenham Town, Ian Burchnall and Baily Cargill spoke of their delight to the assembled press and media.
“To be honest, I thought we managed the game really well,” Burchnall explained. “It was a tense final five minutes, but I thought it was an excellent all-around performance.”
The head coach heaped the praise on his defenders after a vital clean sheet but singled out loanee Ollie Casey for his performance.
“I thought we defended magnificently. Ollie Casey deserves a lot of credit; he’s a young lad and his defending out there was outstanding. I thought the as a collective we were really strong as a unit.”
Burchnall also went on to speak candidly surrounding his side’s early season struggles, but he now believes that the team are starting to find their way.
“I think we’ve had some setbacks early on, but one thing that I’m so happy about is that the team is showing is that they’ve got some great resilience, with a real desire and hunger.
“We’ve really stepped up in the past few weeks. We’re finding our feet; back-to-back wins is massive for us.
“We looked at the December fixtures and I said that these were really huge games – we’ve come out with six points which is brilliant.”
Having dealt with several injuries throughout the season, the 39-year-old explained how returning players have helped with the club’s upturn.
“I think that the training intensity has gone up, it’s helped that we’ve got bodies back and it’s meant that training has become more competitive.
“We’re in a good place – I think that we’re moving in the right direction.”
Read More: Ian Burchnall’s side have found their feet in League One at the perfect time.
Defender Baily Cargill put in a heroic performance in the heart of Rovers’ defence, playing a key role throughout the match.
Cargill expressed how difficult it has been dealing with Rovers’ injury crisis over the past few months.
"We're starting to build momentum."🗣@FGRFC_Official defender @b_cargill shared his thoughts following Rovers' 1-0 win over @CTFCofficial.
Have Rovers finally turned a corner this season?#WeAreFGR pic.twitter.com/9UADFo5Pla
— Park Life Sport (@ParkLife_Sport) December 12, 2022
“It’s been tough, chopping and changing all of the time,” the 27-year-old explained. “You want to build relationships with players. I’m still learning Ollie’s (Casey) game but the more I play with him, the more comfortable I feel.
“I thought he was excellent, alongside Dom (Bernard), who was brilliant.”
Just like Burchnall, Cargill was in agreement that Rovers are starting to find their feet in League One.
“We’re starting to build some momentum, we’re missing a few players today, but we’ve got a lot of lads coming back in training, which is making it more competitive because we know they’re coming back and are going to want to play.
“I think we’re in a good place. The gaffer, Michael Doyle and Ben Turner have been driving us in training all week. Training has been really hard, and I think that’s shown on the pitch.”
