Barton credits support staff for the late shows
JOEY Barton believes Bristol Rovers’ recent run of late goals is vindication for the support staff changes he made over the summer.
The manager revamped Rovers’ backroom staff after their relegation to League Two, hiring physio Stuart Leake, head of sport science Tom Short and performance nutritionist James Aitken.
Barton was hugely critical of the previous regime, slamming Rovers’ fitness levels with the Pirates failing to win a single point with a goal scored in the final ten minutes of any game last season.
Rovers remain imperfect with Barton now in full control of his operation, but to his credit they have improved significantly in the closing minutes in recent games.
The comeback victory at Walsall, Rovers’ first away win of 2021, came from goals in the 79th and 91st minutes, and Rovers followed that up a fortnight later with clinching goals in the final four minutes plus stoppage-time against Carlisle.
And on Saturday, despite being outplayed by Bradford City for long periods, Rovers built a head of steam and forced a point with Brett Pitman’s sublime 90th-minute header – and almost snatched a win when Connor Taylor’s goal-bound header was inadvertently blocked by teammate Aaron Collins.
“I think that’s a credit to the medical and sport science staff, as well as the players and the work they’ve done,” Barton said. “We spoke about upgrading that part of the team and the fact the lads can play for 90 plus minutes now is key to performance because Saturday’s game, I feel we finished the game a lot stronger than Bradford did.
“There are factors to that. They (Bradford) were holding onto a lead, trying to run the clock down, but I certainly feel we were more capable in terms of the physicality and the physical output and they tired towards the end of the game and we managed to nick a point.
“So if you go into Bradford’s training ground, they’ll feel like they’ve lost the game, whereas we feel not like we’ve won the game, but we’ve certainly got more momentum out of that game than they have.
“For me in football, it’s not about playing well all the time because that’s for the rarefied air of some of the top teams. For me, it’s what you’re like on a bad day and we stuck at it. We stayed in the game, which gave us a chance to get back in it.
“And when you’ve got the players we have, you’ve always got a chance.
“At some point during the season, we’re going to have all of our players fit and our strongest team on the pitch, and once we get that then I truly believe when the quality starts to come back and the fitness starts to come in, we’re going to be more than a match for most of the opposition.”
Rovers continue their campaign at Colchester this evening, while at the top of the table Forest Green Rovers travel to Leyton Orient, while rivals Swindon Town have an away clash at Sutton United.