Housemates relishing the challenge at Rovers

JOEY Barton and his right-hand men are living the life of students in Bristol – minus the late-night partying – assistant boss Clint Hill has revealed.

Bristol Rovers boss Barton is sharing a house in the city with Hill, first-team coach Andy Mangan and old friend Eddy Jennings – Fleetwood’s former director of football, who has been casting an eye over games and offering additional support for the manager.

The Scousers’ families are all based in the North West and travelling home between games has been limited amid Rovers’ hectic fixture schedule, but the quartet are enjoying each other’s company and the challenge of dragging the Pirates up the table.

If you happen to frequent the more scenic parts of Bristol from time to time, there is half a chance you will spot the Rovers boss out running, though not with Mangan says Hill.

“You’d find it hard to get Mangs out running,” Hill joked ahead of today’s clash with Wimbledon. “It’s usually me, Eddy and the gaffer.

“To be fair, there are some big hills to climb in Bristol, so we try and stay out the way of them.

“We’re all living in together, which is a new experience. It’s like living a late student life. With the volume of games and training, it’s been hard to get home. I think we’ve been back to see our families twice since we’ve been here.

“It’s tough, because we want to see our kids, but this job is so important to us and we’re 100 per cent committed to it. We really want to do well for Rovers.

We’re down here, we’re bedded in it and we’re loving it. We’re looking forward to the challenge.”

Hill has been tasked with tightening up Rovers’ defence and addressing their frailties at set plays. The focus so far has been improved communication and reacting better to mistakes, but the assistant boss believes the team’s identity should be defined at the other end of the pitch.

“For the short time we’ve been in, I’d like to think we’ve been on the front foot and I would like to think we’ve made positive substitutes at key moments,” he said. “Going down to ten men against Burton, we didn’t think about putting another body in defence. We want to win every game, we want to be on the front foot, we want to attack and have a solid foundation behind.”

Elsewhere in League One, Swindon’s battle against the drop continues at home to mid-table Gillingham.