Bristol Rovers

After winning Saturday’s game and making it five wins in a row for the first time since 2007 Darrell Clarke insisted that picking up the three points was the most important things.

“You’ve got to win ugly some times at this level.

“There are different types of matches you have to try and win and it shows that we have learnt from the Braintree and Altrincham games and dug in and got the three points.

“It’s a very tough league, Southport had a good go at us in the second half and we didn’t retain the ball well enough to go and get that second goal, but that sometimes happens away from home.

“Mildy has made one great save, but apart from that he hasn’t had much to do apart from catching the ball which is pleasing.”

Tom Parkes put in an impressive display at the Merseyrail Community Stadium and the manager has been very pleased with the way he has applied himself this season.

“I’ve given him a lot of praise for the way he has come back.

“His body fat is down massively, he is the fittest he has been in his career and you can see he is enjoying his football again.

“He is a future captain, he is on top of his game and he is leading by example.”

Parkes defensive partner against Southport also drew many plaudits and Darrell stated that Neal Trotman is definitely part of his long-term plans this season.

“Trot’s has done well, he gets on the end of things in both boxes.

“He is terrific in the changing rooms and a great lad to have around the place.

“I thought the centre back partnership was fantastic Saturday when we came under a lot of pressure.

“If the lads are doing well then they will be rewarded, we will sit down with Neal and see what we can do.

“He is a player that I want to keep till the end of the season and that is something that he has definitely earned it.”

Rovers face another away game tomorrow evening as they take on Eastleigh at the Silverlake Stadium and the manager maintains it is going to be another tough test.

“They (Eastleigh) are having a good go, they’ve got a good manager in Richard Hill who knows this level very well.

“They’ve had a really solid start, they’ve won four and drawn two at home and are unbeaten at home and it will be a very difficult place to go.

“Eastleigh have a lot of players in there with football league experience, some of them have had great league careers and certainly aren’t finished by a long shot.

“We will be taking a lot of support there and they have been fantastic for us this season – as always, so it will be a good game.

“We will keep going - it’s just another game with three points available that’s the way we will look at it.”