Trollope’s troops in mood to prosper
Reporter: Tony Bugby
Date published: 11 September 2009
IT WILL be far from easy for Athletic to put their season back on track with victory at Bristol Rovers in Coca-Cola League One tomorrow.
The Pirates are enjoying their best start to a season for five years, which underlines the enormity of the challenge confronting Dave Penney’s players.
And Athletic, who have won only once in eight league and cup games this season, don’t have a good track record at Rovers.
They have won only once in their last 14 visits which took place at three venues - Eastville, Twerton Park and the Memorial Ground.
After winning four of their first six league matches, Rovers are riding high in fourth place, averaging an impressive two points per match.
Manager Paul Trollope is particularly pleased with the character displayed by his players, who triumphed over adversity at the start of the season.
He said: “We were beaten at home by Leyton Orient on the opening day of the season and then, two days later, lost Ricky Lambert who was sold to Southampton.
“It was the worst possible start, but it is all credit to the players for bouncing back by recording four straight victories.
“We did not panic as we knew we were confident with the players we had here.”
Trollope admitted the £1million sale of Lambert, who scored 29 goals last season, was a serious setback.
“You are going to miss somebody like Ricky because he scored lots of goals and was a key member of the team,” he said.
“We have had to change our style since Ricky left, but have done that. Others have come up to the plate and we have had a good spread of goals throughout the team.”
In nine league and cup games so far, Rovers have had eight different players on target with Jeff Hughes, Chris Lines, Darryl Duffy and Jo Kuffour all on two goals apiece.
Trollope believes the reason for Rovers’ flying start is a change to their pre-season build-up.
Instead of playing non-league teams, they opted to take on league clubs, culminating in their final match on the Monday before the season kicked off.
The intensity of training was also increased in the last fortnight with the aim of producing the players in peak condition for the start of the campaign.
Despite the good start, Trollope admits his team is in a transitional phase.
Last week he managed to sign two players before the transfer window shut - giant 6ft 5in Danish goalkeeper Mikkel Andersen on loan from Reading and winger Mark Wright from Brighton for an undisclosed five-figure fee.
Both made their debuts in last Saturday’s 2-0 home win against Millwall.
Trollope is also looking to bring in a replacement for Lambert, although he still has plenty of forward options with Kuffour, Duffy, Andy Williams and Ben Hunt.
“I missed out on a couple of players before last Tuesday’s transfer window shut,” he admitted.
Trollope, whose side also includes highly-rated left-back Aaron Lescott, brother of Manchester City and England star Joleon, says he is under no illusions that it will be tough to better last season’s finishing place of 11th, taking into account the presence in League One of former Premier League and Championship clubs.
