BEN ‘DESPERATE’ TO REWARD THE FANS
THEY’VE BEEN MAGNIFICENT TO ME, SAYS ROVERS BOSS, AS HE SEEKS FIRST VICTORY OF HIS MANAGERIAL REIGN AT TRANMERE TONIGHT
BEN Garner is “desperate” to reward Bristol Rovers’ supporters with three points at Tranmere Rovers tonight.
The Gas are 13 games without a win in all competitions, with Garner yet to taste victory since he took the job in late December.
The Pirates’ latest defeat came at Wycombe Wanderers on Saturday, losing 3-1 at Adams Park, but the Rovers boss believes his side are improving.
Garner hopes it culminates with a win for the travelling Gasheads at Prenton Park as reward for their support of his team and his family having spent 11 days on leave in
January due to the illness of a loved one.
“I’m desperate to get that win for the players,” said Garner. “I’m also desperate to get it for the supporters because since the day I walked in the door and having a difficult personal time myself, they’ve been absolutely magnificent both during that and again at Wycombe.
“The atmosphere they created in that away end, the support coming off the pitch for the players was first-class.
“The spirit (in the squad) has been pretty good, there’s been a buzz about training and they’ve taken information on.
“It’s not a group that are losing games and are under the cosh all the time and losing games. We’re in games all the time and we just can’t get that win at the moment.
“They’re disappointed, they’re hurt by results, but they’re not dented in terms of confidence because we are playing well in a lot of spells of games.
“That’s my job to keep those positives, keep building, and it’s just getting that one win will give that boost and that confidence to the group.”
The state of the Prenton Park pitch has been well publicised in recent weeks, and Garner admits his 13th-placed Rovers will have to adjust to the conditions against Micky Mellon’s struggling Whites.
“It’s a difficult pitch, and they’ve had their own difficulties recently as well,” said Garner.
“It’s a midweek away game, like it was at Bolton recently, and we went there and performed really well and should’ve won the game. I’ll be looking for a similar level of performance on Tuesday against Tranmere.
“I think you’ll have to play the situation. It was a little bit like that against Wycombe. We adjusted second half to the pitch and to the way they were pressing us.
“The players kept going and you see the response from supporters at the end. I think they saw that and appreciated the efforts.
“We won’t stop fighting, we won’t stop battling.”