Category: sport
Updated: 24/07/12 : 14:19:11
Since joining in 2006, Gavin has played 236 times for Rovers, putting him in the top 20 of all-time appearances with the club. Last week's goal in the first leg was his 16th for the club and first in Europe. He is the current longest-serving player and is signed until the end of the 2013 season.
Approaching the game on Thursday: “Last week it was important to get an away goal and thankfully we did. We have to up it a bit this time. I thought we played very well over there and I don’t think there is a need to go gung-ho for this leg based on that performance. They will try to frustrate us and it is the way they play over there. They try to kill the game and it is up to us to do our own thing and not lose our heads. We have to keep our cool even if things don’t go our way early on. We know we can have the ball, create chances and score against Trnava and we have to be patient to get the goals. If we step it up and play the way we did over there, then we have a great chance.”
Conceding more goals recently: “At the moment it seems that anything that is shot towards our goal just hits the net. It is our own doing in a lot of instances to be honest. They are silly mistakes and we have to try to cut them out this week. If we don’t cut them out then we’re not going to go through. We have to get that right this Thursday or it will be an uphill struggle. We have the majority of the possession in most games and it was like that last week against Trnava. It is the way we play and we won’t change that. We just have to lock up the defence a bit and stop the sloppy goals. It is more sloppy passes that is affecting us and getting cut out in the midfield. Ross’ (Gaynor) poor backpass last week, I did something similar against Bray earlier in the season and it just sloppiness.”
Scoring in Trnava: “It was good to get my first European goal but it didn’t really matter who scored. Once we got the goal, we knew it would give us a good chance of going through. 2-0 is not a big scoreline to get considering the amount of chances we created over there.”
The new-look 4,000 seater Showgrounds: “It is big change from when I first came here. When I arrived there was The Shed here, and obviously we have the new Volkswagen Bank End and it has all been built on success. We have to keep going and build more. We want to go for it from here until the end of the year. We have Europe, we have a great position in the league but it doesn’t really count if we do not build on what we have now.”
On new signing defender Jeff Henderson bringing extra competition and a partnership with Jason McGuinness: “Everyone in the squad has the ability to come in and make an impact, like we’ve seen with Quigs (Mark Quigley) in the last games. I think that is what’s needed if you’re going to be successful. You need to have competition for places as it shows you have a good squad. Also you can’t win things if you don’t have a good defence and nearly from the first day Jason has come to the club we’ve just gelled really well and formed such a great understanding. There’s no point in me jumping for a ball anymore as he’s that tall so when it’s on his side he heads it and when it’s on my side he heads it! We’ve become really good friends off the pitch as well, although his banter is very poor. We live close to each other in Riverstown and our partners and children are all great friends so it’s all really good. I’m enjoying it and that’s all you could really ask for and I hope it stays that way while I’m here.”
