00:00Bristol Rovers' poor start to the season has come to something of an end as they picked up their first point of the campaign in League 2, drawing 0-0 at home to Oldham Athletic.
00:12Of course, not the win they would have wanted to completely stem the tide of disappointment, but a point is a point nonetheless and ends the run of defeats that has marked the start of their campaign.
00:24But things are still not quite right from a Bristol Rovers' perspective and they aren't scoring goals or too many of them at all and of course they aren't picking up wins.
00:34So let's hear now from assistant head coach John Stead who reacted following the full-time whistle at the Memorial Stadium to hear his thoughts on the encounter and to hear exactly why they're not quite clicking yet,
00:46but why improvements are starting to creep in for Bristol Rovers and the hope that is still there that things will be much better in the not-so-distant future for the club.
00:56Yeah, there is positives. I think, you know, that was a performance that is much more what we expect from the lads and what they're capable of.
01:07I'm really disappointed for them because, you know, three points would have been massive and I think it's what they would have deserved.
01:13But, yeah, a point we're on the board and I think it certainly gives us hope and it gives us the opportunity now to try and really build and recognise that, you know, things are going in the right direction.
01:24There's still time and it's going to take time, but there was some promising moments tonight for sure.
01:29You said it there, the performance probably deserved all three points. It was just a case of not being able to get the ball in the back of the net in the end.
01:35Yeah, it was, yeah. Huffed and puffed a little bit. We had some good opportunities and I hate to keep saying it, but on another day, you know, we score a couple of goals, but that's been a little bit the story.
01:45I think the rounded performance was a lot better tonight. The energy was there. The way that we moved the ball was a lot cleaner at times and I think we managed to create an atmosphere in the stadium, which we haven't yet this season.
01:59So that was exciting and for large parts of it on the side of the pitch, although I've nearly lost my voice, it excited me and I think it was something that we can really, you know, cling on to and start to build now.
02:09Looking at the other end of the pitch, the defence and Luke were able to keep a first clean sheet of the season as well and a big performance from all five and the whole team defensively.
02:16Yeah, definitely. Yeah, I think it was a huge, you know, they're strong, they're physical side, they've got some big lads at the top end of the pitch and at the back.
02:23So we knew that they were going to be threatening from set pieces. They've been strong with that so far this season.
02:27So we dealt with that really well and anything that came into our box, we put bodies on the line, which is, again, it's what you'd expect, but it's good to see the lads doing it.
02:36I think Luke and obviously the back line can take confidence from the clean sheet and then they can build on that.
02:41But I thought they were outstanding today, the back lines. I thought Kasper, Alfie, I thought they were doing man mountains and I think they built with the attacks as well.
02:47So they started us off a lot of the time, which is stuff that we've been working on.
02:50So, yeah, they'll be happy with that. But we are as a group because it's going to take all of us and they recognise that, the lads, and they're good together.
02:58There's a good group together there.
02:59You mentioned Kasper and Alfie there. As a duo, as a centre-back pairing, they look like they're a real defensive threat for us.
03:05But how's Kasper doing after the end of the game?
03:07Yeah, he's all right. He's a bit tight, I think. And obviously, I think that's the group in the whole.
03:12You know, they're all kind of probably about 75% of the minute.
03:15There's still a lot more to come from the group in terms of fitness, lads still picking up minutes.
03:21So that's the pleasing thing. We know there's a lot more. That last 20 minutes, there's going to be a lot more energy in their legs in another two or three weeks.
03:27So we're still trying to get lads up to speed in that respect.
03:30But, yeah, Kasper's a bit tight, but you've seen the performance he put in.
03:33You know, they want to defend. And sometimes that's rare in football now.
03:37Lads actually really want to just put the face in front of the ball and stop it.
03:41And they've both got that in abundance. And I think that's key when you want to be a solid unit at the back.
03:46When you talk about the sort of fitness of the group and the fact that there's still more to come from them,
03:50the fixed schedule this time of year is always hectic. Games every three days, Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday, Tuesday.
03:55Is that a help or a hindrance?
03:57It's bonkers. It's madness that we can go from so many games in this month and then.
04:02I think there's only four in September. It doesn't make any sense.
04:05So you're trying to manage players, you're trying to manage the bodies, but you still want to get the work into them.
04:11So it's so difficult with a quick turnaround.
04:14We've obviously gone to a four tonight and had limited time to work on it.
04:18And the lads have taken on board a lot of stuff in the classroom, a lot of conversations, a lot of information being thrown at them.
04:24And again, these are things that are new to a few.
04:26So they're starting to pick it up. And I think we're starting to see moments.
04:31But there's still so much more to come. But we recognise that.
04:34We're not happy with where we are. Of course we're not.
04:37But we recognise that there is a process in place and things are starting to move in the right direction.
04:41But I don't need to tell anybody we need wins.
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