Bristol Rovers are in the League Two play-off places for the first time this season, but manager Joey Barton is not happy to settle for a place in the top seven – he fancies a tilt at the title.
The Gas have been the in-form side of 2022 to climb from 17th to seventh, with Tuesday's hard-fought 1-0 win over Colchester United keeping up their superb run over the past three months.
Rovers may be in possession of a play-off berth for the first time this season, but Barton has made clear their will be no complacency for his side. Instead of settling for the top seven, the manager is targeting bridging the two-point gap to the top three and he believes league leaders Forest Green Rovers can be reeled in.
"I’ve told you all along our focus has been to win the division," Barton declared.
Even in the depths of Rovers' poor form at the start of the season, the manager was defiant that he would lead the Gas to promotion this season. He certainly has steered his team back on course, and they have enviable momentum after claiming 31 points in 15 games since the turn of the year.
"It means absolutely nothing though," he added. "We’ve got to turn up. Northampton on Saturday. They’ve won again tonight. They’re riding high.
"We’ve got to keep paying the rent. We’ve got to turn up Saturday. We’ve got to be right at it again because if we’re not, this league has shown us you get a rude awakening.
"There will be twists and turns, there will be setbacks, there will be flat performances from lots of teams in and around the top part of the division. We’ve just got to make sure it’s not us.
"We’ve got to make sure we’re on it every single moment."
With nine games to play, one of Barton's most important roles is to guard against complacency, but he insists there is no sense of that in his squad. He said he is "gutted" a six-week run of the Saturday-Tuesday rhythm has come to an end, despite the benefit of more time on the training ground.
Rovers face trips to Northampton Town and Carlisle United in the next fortnight and Barton – promoted to the Premier League with Newcastle United, Burnley and Queens Park Rangers as a player – sees the hallmarks of a promotion-winning side in his squad.
"Honestly, I smell it on the lads," he added. "You can smell a promotion. You can smell when the group has got the bit between the teeth. I’ve been enough dressing rooms over my 39 years to know when it’s full of b******* and bravado and when it’s full of real men who are laser-focused to get the job done.
"As I said a long time ago, I wouldn’t swap my horse for any. I’ve told you loads of times, we’ll get the job done. People thought I was insane. I saw all the stuff going online, but luckily I’m someone who knows what he’s doing.
"I stayed steadfast. I believed in the group and the group have rewarded us and are paying us back. Also, the owner, it would have been easy to sack me. We were on a s*** run. We were playing crap. Fans were throwing sausage rolls at me.
"He stuck by me though. He told me I was the man for the job and at the time I needed it. So that’s where young coaches sometimes need senior players and people in leadership positions to give them some support and Wael did that and he’s reaping the rewards of that because we haven’t looked back as a football club since.
"I’m gutted (the hectic run of games is over). I’d have the nine (remaining games) on the spin. The lads might feel different, but it’s certainly worked for us. Bodies are sharp. You want to see some of the lads with their tops off. It’s like Men’s Health in there because the games do sharpen you."
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