Tom Parkes says Bristol Rovers are prepared to dig deep and battle their way back into the Football League if that is what it takes. Rovers were forced to call on all of their resolve to grind out a scrappy 1-0 result from a less-than-entertaining encounter at AFC Telford on Saturday, and Parkes said: "The gaffer kept reminding us all last week how difficult the game would be and it turned out exactly how he said it would. Telford may not be doing great in the league at the moment, but they gave us a real test and we really had to dig in to get the three points that we needed. People are always saying the Conference is a tough league, but I'm not sure some people appreciate exactly how tough it is. I can't recall a game where we haven't had to be at 100 per cent to get a win and every point we have got has had to be earned. Some teams try to play a bit of football and others take a more physical approach and go long, so, all in all, I think we have done well to adapt our game to the different challenges. If we have to play scruffy and grind out 20 less-than-entertaining victories then that is what we will do because getting the points to take us where we want to be is all we are interested in. We'd have taken being fourth in the league at the start of Novemeber if we'd have been offered that after the first week of the season." Rovers moved back into the Vanarama Conference play-off positions after slipping to sixth place with a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Forest Green Rovers just over a fortnight ago. That defeat brought an end to a nine-game unbeaten run, and Parkes said: "It is always important to win your next game after you have suffered a defeat in your last one. We didn't think we deserved to lose the game against Forest Green Rovers and to bounce back in the manner we have with two away wins has been massive for us. We needed to improve our away record to have any chance of doing anything this season and now we just have to try to keep that going." Rovers are likely to be without defender Neal Trotman for Saturday's FA Cup tie at Tranmere after he rolled his ankle and left AFC Telford on crutches on Saturday evening. That looks likely to offer Mark McChrystal a start against Tranmere, his old club, at Prenton Park on Saturday. Parkes said: "It is disappointing for Neal and I wish him all the best for his recovery, but it is good that we have someone like Macca to come in and do a job for us. He was outstanding on Saturday and is a really good defender, which is the sort of player you need in a lot of these games. We are all looking forward to the Tranmere game now. We have a week to prepare and we are confident we can get a result and get through to the next round."
"I can't recall a game where we haven't had to be at 100 per cent to get a win and every point we have got has had to be earned." He's got it! He's finally got it!... The trouble with previous managers is that they haven't managed to drill this into the players and unless they really graft and play for the shirt for every minute of every game they're not going to win anything. Well done DC... great stuff...
