Steve Evans wants Bristol Rovers to keep their momentum when they travel to Harrogate Town in Sky Bet League Two.
The Pirates won five of their six matches in March and got off to a perfect start in April, beating Fleetwood Town 1-0 at The Memorial Stadium in front of a packed stadium full of Gasheads.
The Pirates came up with two massive moments to secure all three points. Brad Young saved a penalty in the first half, pushing away Ethan Ennis' penalty before Joe Quigley headed in the winner after the break.
Rovers now face Harrogate, who collected an impressive 3-1 win over Grimsby Town in their last outing. Evans is expecting a tough test, but wants his team to continue their momentum until the end of the 2025/26 campaign.
THE IMPORTANCE OF MOMENTUM
“Momentum is massively important. I think I said to you, the Gasheads, for five or six months, it's just been pain. Most weeks it’s pain, apart from maybe three or four wins in a row, and in the words of the players, they were getting outplayed, but nicking it one-nil.
“We just have to build a momentum, and it takes us into the summer. It’s massive from my point of view that we keep that momentum and let the wins keep coming because, one, it’s important for the Football Club, but two, it’s important for the fans that pay their hard-earned money to be with us right until the end."
HARROGATE TOWN PREVIEW
“They are a good side, and anyone who watched the Notts County match, which they lost 2-0 last week, it looked comfortable. It was far from comfortable. I think both managers accepted it could have been 4-4. I watched it myself because it was an early kick-off and they’ve got some really good players.
“Jason does a good job up there, but we’ll go up there and try to come back with a point or three to add to our tally. We’re in a good run of form. I managed to finish this season top of the form table since the transfer window closed, that’s subject to the performance of the players.”
ACADEMY PLAYERS
“I’m sure that Gasheads will see them, whether it’s on the bench or coming on. We’ll only introduce them if we feel as if they’ve got a little sniff of a chance, but there are some that we’ve seen have a sniff of a chance.
“I think Byron has done remarkably well to be working with us and overseeing the academy staff; they’ve been absolutely fantastic, but in the last two or three weeks, we’ve had them up for three or four games against the lads that have not been getting used.
“Then that gives us first eye contact, so we’re, in the last three weeks maybe, aware of what we have become at 15, 16 and 18 levels and certainly in the next two weeks, I think I have diary dates with Byron to go and see our younger academy players from eight upwards.
“I think if you’re a parent, it’s important that Steve Evans and Paul Raynor are walking around there and having a little look, and maybe we’ll never see them, we’ll be long gone from this Football Club whenever that happens, but they’remaybe the players of the future who will remember the first team manager who came to watch them.
“That’s most important. If I'm a dad, and I have a grandson. Because we are local to Peterborough, if he’s at Peterborough and then comes Luke Williams, I’m buzzing because that’s the first team manager here. That’s what we’ll be doing, we’llbe putting time and effort in because I'm in the city four or five days next week."
