"Beating Cheltenham was a real confidence-booster" says John Ward. Ward is hopeful that bringing a three-game winless run to an end on Tuesday night will serve to rekindle some belief around the Memorial Stadium. O'Toole scored his 13th goal of the season as Rovers secured a 1-0 victory over Cheltenham, to move Rovers five points clear of the relegation zone, and Ward said: "It was a real confidence boost. I think people had been getting a bit restless prior to our last two games and I fully understand that. The good thing for me is that the players haven't because, they, at the end of the day, are the ones who can really make the difference. I am watching the game very much in the same way as a supporter does and I also get frustrated at times when things aren't always going our way. It is important that the players don't lose their nerve during these times, and I think the way they have reacted over the last couple of games suggests they have the character to come through difficult situations. There has been a real collective effort from the players to do that and I hope the last two results will have gone some way to rekindling a little bit of belief among those people that come to watch us. There were a few moans and groans on Saturday, but they were right back behind us on Tuesday night and I am pleased the players have managed to win it back around very quickly with two good results. We'll have our ups and downs along the way, but you only have to look at the numbers we had through the turnstile on a Tuesday night, even when the game was in doubt, to know that we have a great crowd." Ward paid tribute to Rovers groundstaff and to the volunteers who arrived at the Memorial Stadium early on Tuesday afternoon to remove covers that had been laid 24 hours earlier to protect the pitch. Ward said: "We owe all of them a debt of gratitude because it is important we get the games on. We talk about games in hand, but I am one who prefers to get them done and dusted to make sure we avoid and sort of fixture congestion. You are always better off when you have the points in the bag and then wait to see if the others can catch you up. If we hadn't have got the game on Tuesday night we'd have been looking at a very different league table ahead of the game at Bury on Saturday." Rovers now are as many points away from eighth-placed Newport County as they are from 22nd-placed Torquay United ahead of another tricky encounter at Bury. Ward said: "I think that just shows that the league is a lot stronger than it was last year. I think the top seven or eight are going to pull away a little bit, but the rest of us are all capable of getting results on our day and that is why it is very tight." Taken from the Post.
