Romaine Sawyers insisted Bristol Rovers should aim to catch the teams above them in the table ahead of the Gas’ trip to Wigan Athletic in Sky Bet League One.
The Pirates will be searching for their third successive victory in the third tier after beating Cambridge United and Barnsley in their last two league outings, with the triumph over the Tykes being Iñigo Calderón’s first at The Memorial Stadium.
Back-to-back wins means Rovers are only one place and two points below the Latics, who have lost three of their last four in League One.
Since joining the Gas in early January after his contract at Wimbledon expired, Sawyers has started both matches he has been available for, with the midfielder stating that his side should target the game against Wigan as an opportunity to gain points.
“The Ipswich game was a bit of a free hit,” he said. “It was an FA Cup game against a Premier League side, so it was always like a good day out for the fans. If you get a result, it’s fantastic. If you don’t, you can concentrate on the league.
“Especially with the position we’re in, I think we need to look forward to the league games rather than the cup games. I think the Barnsley game showed a good togetherness. We can put our hands up and say they were the better team on the day, but at the end of the game, we got the three points.
“There’s going to be times in the season where we’re going to be the better team and might not get the rub of the green, so we take the ones where we can and discuss the ones how we can improve and how we can move forward.
“I think Barnsley is a team in the league where they are in good form. They play a good style. We shouldn’t really be looking at those games to take points off, but Wigan now coming into the next game, these are the games where you want to pull away from the pack below and catch the ones ahead of us. These are the games we should treat as real cup finals.”
After leaving Cardiff City at the end of the 2023/24 campaign, Sawyers joined Wimbledon on a short-term contract in December, where he played four times and scored once in League Two.
Sawyers suggested that he is looking to build his sharpness, confessing he wants to improve his levels to keep helping the team.
“I have felt good,” said the midfielder. “I’ve got a good foundation and a good base level of fitness. Now, it’s just about sharpening the tools and getting a bit sharper and crisper with the ball. I’m not at the standard or the level I want to be at from a personal standpoint, but as long as I’m contributing to the team, I think I’ll be OK.”
Sawyers is one of the most experienced members of the squad and has over 400 league appearances to his name, with the midfielder playing 19 times in the Premier League.
The former West Bromwich Albion man has looked to make an early impression on the youthful squad.
“I have had banter with them,” said Sawyers. “We play a lot of darts and table tennis just to get them on board, should we say. That’s the easiest way to get the younger boys on board. Introduce yourself in their environment, and that allows, when we’re on the pitch if I had a little bit of demand on them, it makes it easier because it’s a personal relationship that you’ve created off the pitch.
“I’m still early in; I wouldn’t want to come in and make a bad impression because I’m not wanting to deliver the message like that. If I ever want anything to happen, it will be for the benefit of everybody. You as an individual and us as a team. We’re all going to achieve something together at the end of the season.”
The Pirates will have confidence going into the game against Wigan and will be looking to secure three straight victories in the league for the first time this season. Despite being able to take positives from the victory over Barnsley, Sawyers insisted that they must back it up with a performance against the Latics.
“I think we’ve got to go there and have a belief that we can put our stamp on the game,” said the 33-year-old. “I know it’s away from home, but we had a great result against Barnsley, and I think results like that open eyes up to the rest of the league. We’re only as good as that if we go and back it up with a performance against Wigan.
“We’ve been working on a gameplan in the last few days now, and I think over the next few days, the gaffer will reinforce his points even more, and it’s just about going there, applying it, doing a job on them. They are only a place above us, so we need to shorten that gap and pull away from the people below us.”
