Luke Thomas showed his class with a fine finish from the edge of the box against Cheltenham, but the winger still believes he is well away from his best and is striving for more.
The 26-year-old delivered the decisive moment against the Robins, collecting Ruel Sotiriou's pass before curling a low left-footed strike past the outstretched arm of Mamadou Diallo and into the net off the post to give the Pirates a deserved advantage.
Darrell Clarke's men dominated proceedings, reducing the Robins to just three shots whilst having 11 of their own, with the Gas unlucky not to have left the EV Charger Points Stadium with a more comfortable triumph.
Reflecting on his performance, Thomas was pleased to have netted his third goal of the season and stated he should get efforts away more often.
"I just think I need to be a little bit more selfish at times,” he said. “I messed it up in the first half by trying to pass it to Fabrizio. I thought it was a really bad pass, to be fair, so I just needed to be confident. I took the shot, and I was probably lucky that it hit the post and went in. It looks like a really good finish.
“It’s always been a thing in my game where I’ve struggled to do it, the final ball, but hopefully this season, I am on three goals now, more than I got last season.
“So, that’s a positive, and I am only 12 or 13 games in or something like that. So, I need to be braver, whether that’s with a pass or whether I’m shooting, I need to make my mind up and just go with it.”
Rovers made eight changes to the side that lost 2-1 to Walsall on the weekend, with Fabrizio Cavegn, Bryant Bilongo and Thomas the only players to keep their place. Cheltenham switched their entire side around after they triumphed over Fleetwood Town and found it difficult to build any rhythm in the fixture.
The Pirates regularly won the ball high up the pitch, especially in the first half, but could not make their pressure count until Thomas dealt the decisive blow. Thomas was happy his side could come away with a win, but was disappointed it was not as comfortable as it could have been.
“I thought we made hard work of it,” said Thomas. “I thought the lads that played all put in a really good performance. I thought our intensity was really good and with a [better] final ball a few times, we could have easily won that two or three-nil.”
The Pirates were looking to bounce back after their eight-game unbeaten run in all competitions ended with a defeat to Walsall, and despite making several alterations, looked to react from a frustrating loss with a win at Cheltenham.
Back to winning ways, Thomas analysed the season so far and admitted his Rovers side is aiming to put together another impressive run, with Milton Keynes Dons up next in Sky Bet League Two.
“We all probably had a bad start, and we all know we could have improved massively,” said Thomas. “I think we have improved a lot over the last few games, but personally, I’m still miles off it and as a team we believe we are as well because we should be a lot higher in the table. Hopefully, we can get back to winning ways on Saturday and go on another unbeaten run.
“I’m expecting a really tough game. I think they have had a half-decent start. We all know the money they have spent and the quality of players they’ve got in the squad. So, we need to make sure we’re on our A game to get anything from the game.”
Another positive from Rovers' win was Kian Hill, who came on in the second half to make his senior debut for the Club after making his way through the Academy. Thomas was delighted for the youngster and hopes it proves to be the start of a great journey.
“We just congratulated Kian in there,” he said. “I remember my debut, and it was a dream come true, whether it’s in the Vertu Trophy or the league. That will just give him the kick he needs now to try and get more minutes, and hopefully now he can go on and make his league debut.”
