Calum Macdonald has only been a Bristol Rovers player for three weeks, joining the club amid a downturn in results, but the new Gas left-back is confident he’s joined a united squad focused on turning their form around under Joey Barton.
Macdonald made his debut for the Gas on Saturday, playing 61 minutes at left-back as they were beaten 2-1 by Burton Albion in a demoralising defeat that was their fifth in their last six League One games, a run that has seen them fall from eighth to 15th in the table.
Confidence levels appear at a low ebb for the first time in more than 12 months of Barton’s tenure in north Bristol as Rovers have grown accustomed to winning with a constant sense of forward momentum.
But Macdonald, a deadline day arrival from League Two Stockport County, believes there are the necessary minerals in the group to rebound from such setbacks, starting at Oxford United on Saturday; a clash at Kassam Stadium that looks increasingly important.
“It’s not how I planned my debut going; it was a tough game in tough conditions and we’ve got to play better moving forward and hopefully the fans will see me in a different way, in different types of games but it was nice to open my account for the club,” Macdonald said.
“There’s a great group of players in there and they showed it before I came in, they can beat anyone in this league. When it’s going bad, you get bad luck, things feel like they’re always going against you and it’s hard for that to change but it’ll come because it’s a good group and we’re sticking together. The tide will turn.
“Just keep working. We’ll come in, work on the same things and we’ll go to Oxford with a game plan and we’ll make sure throughout the week we’ll do everything we can to give us the confidence to go there and get a result. It’ll only take one result, hopefully, and that’ll kick us on a little run.
“The club’s been great, the area seems great, I’ve really enjoyed my time here so far and I feel like I’ve settled in well. We’ve got to kick on, as a group, individually and as a team, we’ve got to get some results, play better and find a way to win, so on a personal and team level it’s the same.”
Macdonald’s move from the north west to Bristol embodied the frantic madness of a deadline day as the 25-year-old thought he might be on the move elsewhere in the EFL only for nothing to transpire.
He was then named in Stockport's matchday squad to take on Crewe Alexandra that evening and it wasn’t until just before the game he was made aware a deal with the Gas had been concluded.
Macdonald remained an unused substitute for his former employers before undergoing a hastily-arranged medical and agreeing terms with just a few moments to spare as the 11pm deadline approached.
Now part of Barton’s squad, he’s directly competing with Lewis Gordon for the left-back/left wing-back slot and could well have done enough against Burton to keep his place in the starting XI at Oxford on Saturday.
“It was the Tuesday night, we had a game and throughout the day there were a few things that could have happened but nothing had before the match so I went out to play and just before I was made aware it had all been pretty much agreed with Bristol Rovers that they’d come in last minute to sign me," Macdonald added.
"I sat on the bench but Stockport knew and the manager knew that I wasn’t ever going to play that game. It was all very last minute and very quick but I was delighted to get down here.
“It was a bit of a weird one with Stockport, because I was playing but in and out of the team and I just wanted to be playing regular football, really. A club like this, a massive club, I was just so excited to get down here.
“I try and bring quality with my left foot, assisting, shore things up at the back and key aspects of a full-back is what I try and pride myself on and hopefully, moving forward, we can see more of that.”
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