Rovers will look to put Tuesday’s defeat to Charlton behind them, as they return to Sky Bet League One action this weekend to take on Chesterfield F.C, who currently occupy 23rd place in the division.
Manager Darrell Clarke relayed that he wanted a response from his players, as they head to the Proact Stadium on Saturday.
"You have setbacks throughout the season and it is always about how you respond," said the Manager.
"Actions speak louder than words and enough has been said about the performance the other night. I think if you look back at the game again you certainly wouldn't say that it was a 5-1 game and sometimes I think that it gives people the reality check that sometimes people need.”
“A lot of the fans stayed behind to clap the players off on Tuesday and I thought the fans were absolutely outstanding. The fans trust the players to give it a good go, win or lose.”
“We hate letting our supporters down and the changing room was very quiet after the game.”
"Charlton had a strike force of one-point-one million pounds on the evening, so we can't get carried away. We have had a very good start to our life in League One. We are almost half-way through the season and we have almost thirty points, so there's a lot of positives."
"For me, it is about how we respond as a group and how we move forward, starting with Chesterfield on Saturday."
“We are two points outside the play-off places, we have had a great outing in the League Cup against Chelsea and we are still in the FA Cup. I think that it has been a fantastic first nineteen games of the season.”
“We have got a lot to play for. The transfer window is open in January, so players are on their toes, as they know it will be a big five weeks and I have been given the green-light to improve the areas in which I feel we need to improve in.”
“We want to continue to push forward and there is certainly an excitement around the place still."
Rovers have sustained two nasty injuries at various levels this week, with defender Jake Clarke-Salter being stretched off during the second half of Tuesday’s defeat and youth prospect Sam Blake picking up a nasty injury in the academy’s FA Youth Cup defeat to AFC Wimbledon on Wednesday evening.
“It has been a disappointing week,” admitted the Manager.
“I was at our FA Youth Cup tie last night and we lost one of our highly rated youth prospects, Sam Blake to a nasty break and dislocation of the ankle and Jake has broken his arm and had surgery as well.”
“I helped stretcher Sam off the pitch last night and he was in pure agony, but he was as brave as a lion, so my heart goes out to those two players. They are two fantastic young lads who have their careers in front of them and we want to make sure that they both get the quickest recovery possible. It's always disappointing to lose players through serious injury.”
Focusing on Saturday's opposition, Darrell relayed that he is looking forward to going head-to-head with one of his former managers in Danny Wilson.
"Danny was my Manager at Hartlepool and he's a great bloke and a thoroughly good Manager, so Chesterfield are in good hands and they will be buoyed by their win on Tuesday night."
"You look at Chesterfield and they lost seven games in a row earlier in the season, but they had a great win last time out against MK Dons, so they will be confident heading into Saturday."
"They have a good squad of players and a fantastic Manager in Danny, who has managed over one-thousand games."
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