Bristol Rovers are the team in the best form in the whole of the English Football League after winning four straight games in Sky Bet League Two. However, Head Coach Darrell Clarke is only interested in how his side performs against Colchester United on Saturday.
The Pirates had a difficult start to the 2025/26 campaign, but the Gas have been strong in recent weeks and are unbeaten in their previous six games across all competitions, with five of the games in the fourth tier. Rovers started their run with a 0-0 draw against Oldham Athletic at The Memorial Stadium before earning two more clean sheets in victories over Cambridge United and Grimsby Town.
The Gas then beat Newport County in a five-goal thriller before a narrow 2-1 triumph over Barrow last time out. As for Colchester, they are in 19th position after winning one of their eight fixtures, drawing four, and previously losing 1-0 to Accrington Stanley.
With the Pirates searching for a fifth successive league win for the first time since March 2016, Clarke is focused on the trip to the U's after a positive week of work at The Quarters Training Facility.
BARROW REFLECTIONS
“Like I said to my group after the game, it’s difficult to win football matches. Could we have seen the game out a lot better in the second half? Yes. Should we have done? Yes. Are there a lot of areas we need to improve on? Of course, there is, but the fact of the matter is about winning games of football.
“I’ve said it since I’ve been managing, and we got over the line because we put our bodies on the line. The goalkeeper has made one good save. We had a little bit of luck, which, to be honest with you, we haven’t had this season anyway. So, it’shard to win football games, so we were pleased to get over the line and get another three points in the bag.
“It’s about staying in moments in games, controlling that emotion and controlling that when Barrow does get the goal. We don’t defend the cross very well in that particular moment, but it’s then controlling the moments after that and making sure that quickly doesn’t become two goals against us and fair play to the lads for getting over the line. Yes, it wasn’tpretty at times to be able to do that, but we managed to do that. So, it was another good three points in the bag."
BUILDING MOMENTUM
“The fact of the matter is that you never crack the game. There are managers at other clubs who have spent £500m and they are still rubbish. So, you never crack it; there is always stuff that you have got to work on, but you also have to understand that the opposition sometimes deserves credit for getting back in the game.
“On Saturday, Barrow asked us a lot of questions in the second half, and I thought when they did score, we came back again. The goalkeeper has pulled off a great save, Kacper Łopata has missed from four yards, his finishing is not up with the best of them, but in general, we were pleased to get another win and get another win in front of our own fans because it’s important to try and build momentum and keep that momentum.”
THE CHALLENGE OF SKY BET LEAGUE TWO
“There are different teams that give you different problems and different physicality. There are some possession-based teams as well. So, every game brings a different challenge in League One and League Two, to be honest with you.
“So, we just have to be prepared and work hard through the course of the week to be ready for the next game, which is Colchester. It has been a good week; we had a bounce game against Cheltenham, so we got some minutes into the boys on Tuesday, which was important. It was a really good workout, Ollie [Dewsbury] scored a couple of goals, and that was pleasing. It was a great win for the Academy as well in the evening, playing against Bristol City. So, it has been a positive week with Saturday, but we want to build on to the final part, the key part, and that is obviously Colchester away.”
PLAYERS STAYING READY
"Players will go through the course of the season with good form, bad form and on a bad run or whatever, but the attitude and the mentality are key, and the lads have performed to that level. It’s not easy at the minute to get into the 18 [man squad]. We haven’t got a big squad, so they know they have got opportunities to come, and those bounce games are important to keep players' fitness level and make sure they are ready when they are called upon, because they will be called upon.
“It’s as simple as that. Players have to be ready at any given moment. We will have another bounce game in another couple of weeks, to be honest with you. We just keep making sure that the lads that aren’t getting regular minutes on Saturday are ticking over nicely.”
PLAYERS CONNECTING
"Players get more connected the more they play together. The pleasing thing about this group is that it has adapted well to different formational changes over the course of matches and games. We have played a few formations now, and we are coming out and picking up results. So, much credit to the lads for that and my coaching staff and I work really hard to make sure the game plan is as good as it possibly can be, ready for the players to prepare and perform that. But they are the ones who deserve the credit because they are the ones who have to go out there and perform."
COLCHESTER PREVIEW
“I have got a lot of respect for Danny Cowley. He’s a fantastic manager. I know he’s disappointed with his team'sperformance on Saturday; I’m expecting a hell of a reaction from them, but you have to make sure, while we’re being respectful of that, we also understand that they’re a little bit wounded. So, we have to make sure that we are in the right frame of mind and have the right mentality to approach this game to try and continue our form.
“Colchester is always a tough place to go and go over the years, and it has been for me as well. So, we’ll go there, andwe’ve prepared well. We got another good session with the lads this morning, and hopefully, we can put on a decent performance.
THE WINNING RUN
“I said it last week; momentum is important in football. It builds confidence, it builds a happier environment if you’rewinning games. Personally, the way I try to program my players is that it doesn’t matter. The past only matters if it affects the present, but it’s not going to matter on Saturday at three. None of it counts. That’s the beauty of football at any level, to be honest with you. The clock resets. At three o’clock, it doesn’t matter if you have won the last four, does it? Nobody is interested.
“It’s about how you perform here and now, and that’s why I’m pretty consistent with the fact that you’ll never crack football. You have just got to try and keep yourself level-headed and just working towards that next game, and at three o’clock, that’s where we’ve got to show it again.
“My biggest thing is consistency of performance because if you get consistent performances, then the results come. Over the years, this is why teams don’t win 15 on the bounce unless you’re a really good team or have spent millions, because you can’t think the game owes you anything. You have got to be right at it every time, and different challenges come through the course of that game. It will be exactly the same on Saturday against Colchester.”
