Joey Barton said it would take a fool to bet against Bristol Rovers after they kept up their fine form with a 3-0 win over Harrogate Town at the Mem on Saturday.
Aaron Collins bagged a brilliant brace and Elliot Anderson scored a memorable solo goal as the Gas moved to eighth in League Two, level on points with the play-off places.
Rovers are in fine fettle with 10 wins from 16 games, but they started poorly on Saturday until Collins' pinpoint finish from 25-yards 12 minutes before the break transformed the mood in BS7. Anderson responded by weaving beyond several challenges and sliding beyond Mark Oxley to double the lead before the break and Collins added a third 10 minutes into the second half with an audacious lob over the floored Oxley.
Barton praised his players for overcoming a sluggish opening half hour, with his only complaint that they did not score more than three.
"The wind was going towards one end," Barton said. "Whichever team got the wind it was going to be difficult to exit out of your half and they got the wind of the kick off. We had to be mindful that they were going to take our crowd away from us. They were going to slow the game down and, obviously, they had the elements, so it was going to be really difficult for the lads.
"We were probably a little bit guilty of overplaying in the first bit. Towards the middle of the half we turned them around a little bit more and got some good platforms. We managed to get a goal, a real quality finish from Aaron and then I think we settled into the game. We scored again not long after with a superb individual goal from young Elliot.
"We challenged the lads at half time to take advantage of the elements and make sure we get that next goal to make the second half a lot easier than maybe how we have done in recent weeks and months.
"I’m really pleased. I thought it was a really professional performance. If I’ve got a nitpick, we should have scored a couple more."
Barton has long believed he is in possession of League Two's form horse and he is confident Rovers will continue to make moves through the pack in the final 10 games of the season.
"(Momentum) is huge," he said. "In football it is everything and we’ve got it. We must work really hard to maintain it because if you get complacent or sloppy, you can lose it as quickly as you’ve gained it.
"I think our lads are well-versed and they’re ready to go. The key for me is because we’ve done everything right. We’ve eaten right. We’ve trained right. We’ve slept right and we’ve travelled right. Nobody will be in better shape than us in this last period.
"At the very best, they can be as good as us, but nobody will be in better shape than us. We’ve got a better squad and the depth of the squad is as good as anybody’s. The lads are trained and primed.
"It’s going to be tough to stop us, for anybody. We might get promoted. We might be in the playoffs. But again I wouldn’t swap with anybody, especially with our following. There’s not many teams who’ve got the following we do. So if it’s play play-offs and Wembley, we’ll see 40,000 tickets. There’s not many other teams in the division that could do that if any.
"So we don’t want to do that, because I fancy going and seeing my missus and kids a lot earlier, but again we’ve got lots of hard work in front of us and we’ve got to make sure that we’ve jockeyed into position and that we capitalise in the next ten games.
"On current form and trajectory, you’d be a fool to bet against us."
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