Pirates Boss Paul Trollope Talks About Tomorrow

Last updated : 28 February 2009 By Thetashkentterror

Paul Trollope
Bristol Rovers manager Paul Trollope spoke to the assembled media at his club's official press conference on Thursday morning, Trollope looking back on a 2-0 win at Boundary Park on Tuesday evening and ahead to the match against Carlisle at Brunton Park tomorrow afternoon :


" Oldham was a pleasing performance in the second-half, obviously the domination we enjoyed was a real boost. Those sort of halves really boost your belief individually as well as collectively so hopefully we can take that into Saturday. I think that defensively three clean sheets out of the last four games has been good and that has the been cornerstone for it all really.

" We look less like conceding, individuals are doing their jobs, there are not so many unforced errors and that has lead to us winning games. Because we know that we can create and score goals so maybe the competition for places has helped that with people coming back. Danny Coles is nearly ready as well and he will only add to that. So it has improved, especially since Christmas, the goals against column is looking better, the goal difference is good but it is just about continuing it now.

" Obviously we are going to look after the players, we are aware that we got back in the early hours on Wednesday morning and back again on the road on Friday morning. We are going to try to break the trip tomorrow though and train at Leicester, who are going to put a bit of lunch on for as well which is good, and then make our way over. So we are hoping to do everything that we can to ensure that we have got the same energy levels as the other night.

" Carlisle are in mixed form, they have had some good results at home, a few defeats. So we will look at their threats, look at their weaknesses as well and try to exploit them. We will go up though and try to produce the same sort of performances as we did on Tuesday and as well at Scunthorpe. If we can get to that level then we are confident that we can win the game but it is about producing again. "



" They have got players and they can score a goal though, the players that they have got in there. They have got some good attacking threats, they have got pace as well which we need to be careful of. If we can keep the form going though and keep the level then we are confident of going up there to win.

" (Danny) Graham, Cleveland Taylor as well, they have got pace in the right areas and they have got experience in (Graham) Kavanagh in midfield and (Paul) Thirlwell. So we have to be respectful of the opposition as always but by the time the players kick off they will know all about them, know how hopefully we can hurt them and go up there and record another win.

" As for us, even in midfield Craig Disley has been on the bench in the last couple of games and he is frustrated. So that is what we need and that is what you need to make a progress. We think that we have started to do that now, the bench before Christmas was too thin at times, no disrespect to the young players but to have that sort of bench that we have had in the last few games has been good for us. Players have come and made an impact as well and the players in the team know that they have to perform to a good level to stay it.

" He (Danny Coles) has been back with the group for ten days, nearly two weeks now. We have pencilled in a reserve game at Hereford for Wednesday as well so he will play in that if that goes ahead, as will a few of the others. So after that game we will be looking to include him in the squad. "



" Possibly next weekend, it has gone well so far, there have been no reactions but we have to make sure that we are careful with him, we have to make sure that he is right. He has trained very, very well, he has got a lot of work in, especially over the last week, and the game next week will top that up and he won't be far away after that.

" The remit from the start was to finish in the top half of the table, that is what we thought we were capable of. I think that there were frustrations along the way in the first half of the season, we had a lot of defenders missing for too many games. Now though we are getting towards full strength and we said that if were at full strength and we avoided injuries that we could be in that top half. The league shows us that if we can continue the kind of form we are showing then anything is possible.

" We obviously want to take it game by game, we don't want to get ahead of ourselves. We have got a game in hand on most people and take advantage of that and keep the level of performance then we could be well within the top half of the table come April, and then you never know what could happen after that.

" I think that we produced some really good performances on the road before Christmas. Ones that spring to mind are Leicester and Millwall where we were just undone by little errors defensively or bit of ill fortune in games that we thought that we deserved to win. So the general performance level is the same, we though that we were doing enough in some of those games to win it but the concentration levels and the appetite to defend has been much improved. I think that is the reason why we are getting clean sheets and obviously winning games and picking up more points. "