(Photo: Action Images via Reuters)
By Alex Beard
Bristol Rovers manager Darrell Clarke has challenged his players to beat the 14 points they got from last year's ‘second quarter' of fixtures.
The 39-year-old breaks his season's down into four 11-game quarters, and says he is hopeful that his side can push on and exceed last year's total.
The Gas have registered five wins and six defeats from their opening slate of games, and Clarke also admitted it could have been more if not for his ‘roll the dice' approach to management.
“We're one point behind our total last year after the first 11 games,” he told the Bristol Post.
“In the second quarter last season we got 14 points, so our target is to get as many points as we possibly can and beat that 14 points.”
“We'll work in blocks and obviously we'd like to pick up a couple of away wins along the way.
“I'm a roll the dice manager. You've got to take that into consideration,” Clarke said about his side conceding 23 goals in 11 games.
“I'm not a manager that's picking his backside on the sideline. I'm trying to get back into games to win a football match.
“So we concede a few more goals than we normally would if I was a manager happy to be beaten by a goal – which unbelievably I've seen in the past.”
Clarke's men will begin their quest for a successful second quarter of the season when they face Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink's Northampton Town at Sixfields this Saturday.
