Mitch Harding knows he faces a battle to be a first team regular for Rovers after being handed a rare at York last weekend. Harding, 19, started a game for the first time in more than a month as he had not featured since the FA Cup 2nd round game at the Mem vs Crawley on 7th December, which completed a run of three successive starts. Harding said: "I was only starting in those three games because John-Joe and Chris were suspended at the time. I thought I did quite well in that little period, but I wasn't surprised to be taken out of the team when both of them returned from suspension. There is no point sulking about it and feeling sorry for yourself because that definitely won't help you get back in the team. If I was an older professional, who had been in the game for ten years, then maybe I would have had a case to go and have a word with the manager, but, at this moment in time, it is just something I have to deal with." On keeping his place in the starting line up, he said: "It is going to be hard. There has obviously been talk of a new signing coming in this week and I was a bit disappointed in my own performance on Saturday. I was all over the place in the first 25 minutes and my touches were a bit poor to start with, but I felt I grew into the game the longer it went on. It is hard to immediately get the pace of the game when you haven't played for a few weeks, but the only thing you can do is get on with it and do your best. When you are a young player in the squad you have to quickly learn to accept that you aren't going to get lots and lots of games on the bounce to get up to speed. Chances are going to be limited for someone like me at the moment, and when they come along you just have to do your best to be as ready as you can be to try to take them." On his fitness, he said: "I've been working hard on that. I have felt fit since the start of the season, but there is always room for improvement. I wanted to focus on doing things that would help me become quicker and more agile and it seems to be working at the moment. I've been lifting weights in the gym regularly since I have left school, but Mark (Mark Hammond fitness consultant) has told me to cut back on that in favour of additional cardio work and body weight exercises." Taken from the Post http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/Mitch-...team-regular/story-20476381-detail/story.html
