Steve Evans wants to give Gasheads a Bristol Rovers team they can get behind as the Gas prepare to face Bromley at The Memorial Stadium.
The 63-year-old led the Pirates to their first point in Sky Bet League Two since the end of September in his first fixture as Head Coach last Friday, with Rovers drawing 1-1 away at Crewe Alexandra, and now wants to build on it with a positive home performance.
The Gas beat Bromley 2-1 on the road in the first round of the Emirates FA Cup earlier in the campaign, but the Ravens will be a tough test after winning seven of their previous eight matches in the fourth tier. They will bring a physical team to The Mem and will have confidence after beating Grimsby Town 2-0 in their last outing.
Speaking to the media, Evans previewed the clash and gave an insight into what the first week has been like at Rovers.
LIFE AT ROVERS
“I certainly know all of the players' names and the staff's names. I said when I came into the football club that it would take a little bit of time put our stamp on it, but we’ve started to do that slowly, and we’ve got the best support mechanism in the world. The owners are great, I’m not saying that for the sake of saying that, but they are. We’ve got everything we can ask for; we just need to win some games."
CREWE REFLECTIONS
“You learn a lot more when you’re playing competitive games. We addressed the group this morning, and the enthusiasm, the willingness to work hard and run and be committed, the basics that we ask for are there in abundance. We just need to get a little bit more quality out of the bag, and it’s something that is a work in progress, and it will continue, but we certainly can’t ask any more than application, and that has to be the minimum.”
“The immediate task is a big one. You can see with the results with some of the teams around where we are that teams are working hard to try and nick a result and improve, but we have to just win some games and relax and settle down everyone.”
FOUR UPCOMING GAMES
“We will have to fight and scrap for every point. We have two really tough home games and two really tough away games. The next four games, when you break them down, Bromley are second in the table and are a really strong and physical side, the manager has been nothing short of outstanding, and the players have to go out on the pitch and get the result. Barnet beat Rovers by four. I actually watched that game, and it could have been more.
“Then we've got Shrewsbury and then the long trip to Barrow, so we’ll be a lot more settled after those four games because after four or five games, we get a real feeling of who it’s really essential that we work with in the camp in the playing personnel and who we need to move on."
BROMLEY PREVIEW
“I’m not surprised that they are near the top of the table. They have had some big investments from the owner; the key thing about the investment is that it has been spent very wisely. I said it last week, and I will say it this week: I think we are number three in the budget table in terms of League Two. Bromley won’t be in that league, but they will be fourth or fifth, maybe sixth, I don’t know, but their value for money has been outstanding.
"Andy Woodman is not only a good manager, but I’ve not had a lot of dealings with him, but when I have come across him, he’s produced something quite special at Bromley, and we would be absolutely buzzing if it was us, and that’s the objective."
He later added, “We need to be fresh against Bromley. If we’re not really fresh and aggressive and strong, then Bromley will come and do what they do to most teams. That’s why they are second in the table. We watched them first-hand at the weekend, and they won very, very comfortably.
"It was as comfortably as any team could win in any football game at 2-0 up, and they could have won by four or five. We have to give our supporters a reason to get right behind us, and if we give the supporters a reason to get right behind us, I’ve come to The Mem, and I know what it’s like to have the atmosphere against you. It makes it really, really tough, and we have to make it really, really tough for Bromley."
TEAM NEWS
"He [Tom Lockyer] has trained for a couple of days now, and he’s trained very well. Like every football club, we’ve got one or two niggles. Sometimes, they come from games like Crewe in the Christmas period, and it really tests everyone. We play every three days, and that makes it even more difficult to get all of the consistency in terms of getting all of the players on the pitch, but we’re not in the worst shape.
“We can get stronger. The balance of the squad is not quite where we would all like it to be, and if I’m doing my job properly and Ricky is doing his, which he does very well at, then the balance of the squad will be right as we exit January, but there is a hell of a long time until the end of January.
“Callum Morton has been terrific. He has struggled a little bit this week to get on the grass because of a little hamstring strain that he picked up at Crewe. Whether we can get him out there on Boxing Day, the medical team are working hard and tomorrow will be that judgment call.”
