Joey Barton was full of praise for the collective performance delivered by his Bristol Rovers players as they beat Oxford United 1-0 ay the Mem in League One on Saturday.
Rovers were good value for their victory, with John Marquis scoring his first goal for the club to head them into the lead before half time, and for the most part, an Oxford attack led by former Gas players Matty Taylor and Billy Bodin was nullified.
The victory takes Rovers onto six points from their opening three League One games ahead of Tuesday's trip to Barnsley, and Barton was delighted by the collective effort of his team.
"You can’t single anyone out," he said. "I thought it was a really disciplined team performance.
"They are a really good side, they are always there or thereabouts come the end of the season for play-offs and they will certainly cause teams lots of problems because they’ve got lots of quality in the group.
"After the initial skirmishes, once they settled and we got our collective press and the line of engagement correct, I think we limited them to a header that hit the bar from a corner that was deflected in the first half and a header that the lad has headed over in the second half. Apart from that, I don’t think Belly’s had that much to do.
"Pleased with the defensive aspect, pleased that my number nine has got off the mark because it’s always good to get that goal. Azza is firing and I thought Harvey Saunders as outstanding today. He didn’t get the goal that his performance deserved but he set the tone for us.
"The lads who came into the game maintained the level of performance and showed a real team quality to get the job done."
Despite the scorching temperatures in BS7, Rovers were relentless and benefited from a strengthened bench with Paul Coutts, Jordan Rossiter and Josh Grant back after suspensions and injuries.
"It would have been nice to get a second goal to make it slightly easier, but we had a strategy coming in and the weather was a factor in that. It’s very rare that you get 35-36C in the UK," Barton added.
"We had to be smart to do and we’re not at 100 per cent. We’ve still got a bit of work to do in the market, which we’ve been vocal about and strength will be added for sure.
"But today you’ve seen some of the strength we have in the group."
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