The popular Drake hit that has become Bristol Rovers’ befitting dressing room anthem

The Bristol Rovers players have adopted a popular Drake song as their dressing room anthem that is fitting of their rise in the League Two table.

Dressing room confidence is at an all time high with the Gas on a tremendous run of form, having picked up 36 points from their last 20 matches.

And now it has been revealed that Canadian artist Drake has been an inspiration to some of the players.

His popular single ‘Started From the Bottom’ which was released in 2013 has been continuously played after their matches.

Befitting of a team that at the start of the season were at one point, second from bottom in the table and are now only two points off an automatic spot with less than a quarter of the season to go.

‘The lads keep putting the song on, I think it's Drake who sings it, started from the bottom now we’re here,” said first-team manager Joey Barton.

“It's true you know, we've almost hit rock bottom here in terms of the league standing.

“So when you get this momentum wave that we've got and also we know what it is built on.

“We know it's built on solid foundations of hard graft and turning up and featuring every single day. Confidence is flowing now

“We're superbly prepared. If I could show you texts from players, we’ve got the best group, we do everything right, we train right and we think right.”

One player who’s music preferences might differ from the youthful taste in the dressing room is captain Paul Coutts, who has emerged as a key player.

After initially struggling in his first few performances for the club, Coutts has personified Rovers’ ascension up the table by improving game-by-game, so much so that he has a tremendous amount of importance to the team.

The 33-year-old, who was at Fleetwood Town with Barton, has made more than 450 appearances in his career, winning promotions with Peterborough United and Sheffield United.

And despite entering the twilight years of his footballing career, he has kept himself in peak physical condition which has resonated amongst his teammates.

“Our lads are really confident from the skipper down,” Barton added.

“For me, I know everybody else gets the plaudits but Paul Coutts, the job he has done as captain is incredible in terms of settling the dressing room.

“You guys won’t get to see that but for me I can’t speak highly enough of the job he’s done.”

“You’ve seen the younger players brought on and that is all a testament to the skipper and he is a one in a million.

“All the players call Couttsy uncle. That’s the respect he has within the group. He doesn’t ask anybody to do what he’s not prepared to do himself. If you’ve seen him with his top off, he’s in prime shape and is superbly well conditioned and that sets the stone.

“He’s the captain, he’s in his thirties and he’s had all the success that he has had and he does that on a daily basis.”

For the last few weeks, the aim for Rovers was to just get into the play-off spots given their start to the season but now even automatic promotion has entered the agenda given the tightness of the division.

The promotion picture is incredibly tight with only six points separating 10th placed Port Vale and third-place Newport County.

A whole host of teams are on the same amount of points whilst goal difference could also be a factor come the end of the season.

In their final ten fixtures, Rovers face Northampton Town, Tranmere Rovers, Salford City, Port Vale and Forest Green out of the current sides who occupy a place in the top 12.

“Everybody is still scrapping, we've still got to play the teams in and around us,” Barton said.

“We've got to make sure out of the next 30 points, you pick up as many of them as you possibly can.

“If we go and take 30 of them, I think everybody knows we'll be promoted and that is the aim.

“We've got to go and win every game and we are capable of winning every single game. It's going to be a Cup final on Tuesday, we'll enter the tanks again like we have done for two months now. The lads have thrived under the pressure and the expectation.”