Joey Barton has warned his Bristol Rovers players they will encounter a "dangerous animal" when they face rock-bottom Forest Green Rovers at The New Lawn on Saturday, and the Gas could be without captain Paul Coutts again.
Duncan Ferguson's side have been cut adrift at the bottom of League One, 11 points from safety with 11 games to play, but Barton believes the desperation from the Nailsworth outfit will make for a very awkward challenge for the Gas, who are 15th after taking four points from their past two games.
Barton knows all too well from his time in charge of the Gas during the 2020/21 season that ended at the bottom of the table that teams in that position are capable of mustering big performances to upset the form book – albeit in the Pirates' case they were mere flashes in the pan – and the manager insists his team will be prepared accordingly.
"Dangerous animal," he said when asked about the opposition at Thursday's pre-match press conference. "They are fighting for their lives with everything they have got and the more it goes on, the more desperation is in there.
"I know from our experience of a League One relegation, it wasn’t from people’s lack of motivation. I’m not sure what has gone on there with managers, but here there was some stuff in the ether. I’m not sure what has gone on, it was Ian Birchnall when we played them earlier in the season.
"They are always a dangerous opponent because they have got their livelihoods at stake. Not only a relegation on their CV, but usually wages are decreased or contracts aren’t renewed and that backs people into a corner. When people are backed into a corner, they are dangerous. We caused a few teams – I recall Shrewsbury and Accrington – problems, but for us, there wasn’t enough of that.
"Forest Green have got 11 games to go and the longer it goes without winning, the more demoralising that can be, so at this moment we are facing a very dangerous opponent because there are still enough points for them to do something about it.
"All I can say from my experience is once that threshold is crossed and the league status is not sustainable, motivation in the building naturally drops and for Dunc, that can eat into your next season as we found out in League Two when we opened. They are well aware and they don’t need me talking about it, but they have got a lot of points to catch up on and we’ve got to make sure it starts next week, not this week."
Rovers had to make do without Coutts for the 0-0 draw with Barnsley last time out and the 34-year-old midfielder is once again a doubt to feature due to a knee injury.
"He hasn’t trained as yet," Barton revealed. "We’re hoping he’s alright tomorrow, he’s had a couple of injections that have hopefully settled it down but we’ll make a call on it in the morning.
"He could be touch and go again but hopefully he feels OK in the morning and gives us the green light, but we’ve got a Tuesday game and a Saturday game, so we have just got to manage the group through this period."
One man who will be available is centre-back Lewis Gibson, who has made a transformative impact on the defence in the past two games after returning from a lengthy absence with a thigh injury. Barton says the centre-half's fitness is building nicely and he has praised his influence on a defence which has kept back-to-back clean sheets.
"Lewis did remarkably well to get 60-70 minutes in the Oxford game after missing a couple of games and he managed to get a lot longer against Barnsley," Barton said. "That is a testament to the work he has done in getting prepared.
"He is a consummate professional and even in the aftermath of the recent games, on a Sunday he will make sure he goes down to the pool and he’s on top of the recovery and that allows him to get those minutes.
"We have just got to manage him in between games to make sure he is available on matchday. He’s keen, he’s desperate to train and push hard and some of the lads like that can be their own worst enemies. You have to wrap them in cotton wool a bit.
"But to be fair to Lewis, he’s come back in and brought a calmness to the backline every time he’s played for us and the signs of good players is how they affect the players in close proximity to them and I think Lewis in recent weeks has been a key component. Not just him, but he has been a key component in our backline establishing itself."
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