Macauley Southam-Hales knows no game in Sky Bet League Two is easy ahead of Bristol Rovers' trip to Accrington Stanley on Saturday.
The Pirates will be searching for their first victory in the fourth tier since the end of September, where they beat Salford City 2-1 at The Memorial Stadium, but will have to create history to do so.
The Gas have never won away at Stanley but can take positives from winning two of their three fixtures in all competitions to start November, earning victories over Bromley and Plymouth Argyle, either side of a narrow defeat to Gillingham in Sky Bet League Two.
Speaking to the media before Rovers' trip to Accrington, Southam-Hales stated that his side should enjoy the pressure, later adding that a successful side is always one game away from a run of form.
"No game is straightforward in this league, as we’ve seen," he said. "Expectations is a pressure that we want to enjoy. If we can go up there and get the result, then that is brilliant and that’s what we’re aiming to do."
He added, "I think you are always one game away from a run. You have seen it this year and last year, even the year before that, one team puts a run together and flies to the top. So, if you put a run together, you put yourself in good standing for the remainder of the campaign."
Rovers have been without Promise Omochere and Ellis Harrison in their last few fixtures, forcing the Pirates to utilise different attacking methods to score. Southam-Hales enjoys getting into the final third and searching for the forwards with a cross into the box but has had to assess his options without the physical strikers in the attack.
Each team has different strengths in Sky Bet League Two, ensuring that no two games are the same in the fourth tier. Southam-Hales believes teams have to find various ways to be victorious and suggested the Gas always look at ways to hurt their opponents.
"You’ve got to win games in different ways in this league," said the defender. "You’ve got to fight, you’ve got to play, you’ve got to go long to two big target men, and when you don’t have them, it changes the way you play.
"As a wing-back, I want to cross the ball and sometimes, without their physical presence in there, it is quite hard. So, you have got to find little passes rather than crossing the ball into someone's head who is not in there. We’ve got Fabrizio Cavegn, Luke Thomas, Shaq Forde and people like that who want to get in pockets and try to pick balls up in different ways than others.
"We work on different things through the weeks, and each game is a different project, and you’ve got to win games in different ways, and if that means going long one week against a team that might struggle with that, then we’ll do that. If we need to play one week against a team that struggles with pressing, then we can do that as well."
Southam-Hales has started the last three fixtures in all competitions, with winger Forde playing just ahead of him in two of them. Forde suffered an injury in the Gas' penultimate pre-season match against Coventry City but is back in the squad and is battling for his spot. Southam-Hales was full of praise for the 21-year-old and believes he has a bright future ahead of him.
"Shaq is a brilliant lad off the pitch and on the pitch," he said. "He is also a brilliant player and has a massive career ahead of him. He’s had his stumbling blocks with injuries, but if he can put that behind him and really focus on keeping improving every day, then he’s got some career ahead of him."
The Pirates are winless in five outings in Sky Bet League Two but have shown signs of improvement with wins in the Emirates FA Cup and Vertu Trophy. The Gas have only conceded two goals in three outings, with Southam-Hales stressing that the team are looking to improve every day in training.
"We had a good run of form and then dipped, and now we’re trying to pick things back up, but we’ve just got to take each game as it comes and really try and improve every day in training," he said. "We’re on the right lines.
"Obviously, we got out there to concede no goals, so conceding four three games in a row is a big disappointment, but that’s in the past now. All we can do is try and get better and improve every day and try and keep that going."
