‘Winning breeds confidence’ - What Joey Barton said about Bristol Rovers win over Cambridge

Joey Barton didn’t mind how Bristol Rovers won as they ground out for a 2-1 win over Cambridge United at the Memorial Stadium.

Josh Coburn scored the match-winning goal on his first start for the Gas after Joe Ironside’s penalty had cancelled out Greg Taylor’s opening goal.

It was just the third win of the campaign for Rovers and it is their first since beating Oxford United in mid-August.

The victory moved them out of the relegation zone and up to 19th, moving above Tuesday’s opponents MK Dons and Oxford.

Asked what impressed him in the victory, he said: “The way we dug in. I thought we were certainly the better team in the first 25-30 minutes. We got our goal and you want that second goal to settle everyone down.

“Mark’s got a competent side there, they keep competing. Solidified in League One and sixteen points on the board already. They are well versed in what they do and they compete.

“We knew it was going to be a tough afternoon whichever way we wanted to find the three points whether that was with style and panache.

“In reality we haven’t won in seven or eight games, we haven’t won now for 25 minutes! We had to just find that way of winning the game and winning breeds confidence.

“We’ve got a young group. When players start to return it will give a solid platform. You can see from the bench we had today the changes we were able to make to shut the game down and make sure we got out of the game with a well earned three points.”

Rovers started the match brightly and put the Cambridge goalkeeper in to action on several occasions.

Aaron Collins - assistant for Coburn’s goal - tested Dimitar Mitov in the opening minute whilst Coburn went near as did Antony Evans.

Cambridge’s goal came against the run of play as James Belshaw clawed the feet of Sam Smith to concede a penalty but picked himself up by making a string of good saves.

The game fell flat after a strong start and it was a quiet opening to the second-half but after Coburn’s 56th-minute strike, Rovers were able to be streetwise and see the game out.

It was a match that saw the hosts have 38% possession resulting in 15 shots with six being on target to Cambridge’s 62% and 17 shots, but the manner of the victory wasn’t important.

Barton said: “It’s up to us to feed the scoreboard and the crowd. When the players go out and compete and play the way they have today we can play better for sure, the fans really appreciate the young group and how much they care for the shirt.

“It was epitomised for me today by Ryan Loft by the work rate and the amount of time he put the body on the line. Coburn and Hooley might get the headlines for the goals, but I thought there were some real team performances today.

“It wasn’t just the starting 11 it was the lads who come on from the fray to finish the game off.”