James Connolly admitted he’s been surprised by how often he has played since joining Bristol Rovers in January, but he is loving his time at the club and wants to make the most of the opportunity.
The 20-year-old signed for the Gas on January 8 on loan from Cardiff City and was thrown straight into the starting XI the very same day for the narrow FA Cup third-round defeat at Peterborough United.
Connolly was named on the bench the following week for the win over Hartlepool United but has played every minute since, establishing a growing partnership with Connor Taylor that has helped Joey Barton's Rovers keep six clean sheets from their last 10 games.
The former Blackburn Rovers prospect revealed he has got more minutes in the blue and white quarters than he initially expected and although he has received plenty of praise for his performances, he puts the majority of that success down to the team as a whole.
“It has been a surprise (playing so regularly),” Connolly admitted. “When I came here, I wanted to play as much as possible, but the gaffer has thrown me in, maybe through a little bit of luck.
“I’ve done OK and the team’s done well so I’ve kept my place so hopefully I can keep it going. When the team does well all individuals tend to do well so as long as we’ve got a good base, it’s easy to perform.
“I love it (at Bristol Rovers). It’s such a good club. The best club I’ve been at probably. The fans and the lads are really good. I love the gaffer and all the coaching staff; I’m really enjoying it.”
The Gas saw their six-game unbeaten run come to an end in South Wales after being narrowly beaten 1-0 by fellow promotion-chasers Newport County.
Despite seeing his centre-back partner Connor Taylor subbed off at half time through injury, Connolly put in another impressive defensive performance, keeping League Two top scorer Dom Telford relatively quiet. However, the Cardiff loanee accepted the team’s performance was not good enough.
“I think in the first half we weren’t good enough," he said. “We had a few little chances, but it took until the second half where we started to have more a bit more of go and gain a bit of confidence and we nearly nicked one at the end.
“We’re gutted when we don’t keep a clean sheet. It was a good strike from the lad, but obviously, we want to stop them all. We are disappointed, but we can’t look at it now.
“I don’t think one loss will define our season. There are loads of points still to play for. If you look at the loss today and sulk, we’ll get nowhere. We just need to bounce back and try and win the next game and the next one and just take it game by game and hopefully it’ll go well.”
When reflecting on his positive displays in a Rovers shirt, many forget that Connolly had not played a minute of senior football before joining the club in January. There were early growing pains but he has quickly got up to speed and his commanding performance in the 2-0 win over Leyton Orient highlighted the rate of his development.
Connolly himself admitted he had some difficulty in his opening few games, but he now feels he is learning and developing with every passing game against some very good League Two footballers.
“Everyone was telling me it’s important to get experience and now I’ve come here I can see why,” he said. “The first few games were a bit of a shock to me. The ball is getting lamped on you a little bit more than under-23s football, but you have to learn. You get thrown in you’ve got to swim. So, I took it game by game and just tried to improve every day.
“There are some good players in League Two. It’s a good league and there are some physical players as well. Every game is different, but we’ll just take it game by game and play to our strengths and, hopefully, the team will do well.
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