Joey Barton has called on his Bristol Rovers players to "professionally dispose of lower-league opposition" when Boreham Wood visit the Mem in the FA Cup second round on Sunday.
The Rovers manager wants his players to learn lessons from Wednesday's EFL Trophy win at Colchester United, where the Gas were dominant for long periods but did not put the game out of sight, allowing the hosts to score an equaliser with their only shot on target before Harvey Saunders netted a stoppage-time winner.
National League Boreham Wood will be no pushovers, though, and they have previous in the FA Cup. They reached the fifth round last season, beating EFL teams in AFC Wimbledon and Bournemouth before pushing Everton hard in a 2-0 defeat at Goodison Park earlier this year.
"We’ll have to be fully focused and wired in, which I expect us to be," Barton said. "If we are and we handle the occasion in the correct manner, the favouritism of the tie will be on us and rightly so.
"For us, it’s about taking care of our performance, taking care of our output, and unfortunately for Boreham Wood, if we function and play well, they are going to struggle to progress in the cup, but that is entirely in our control and we have to make sure we turn up and professionally dispose of lower-league opposition in the cup.
"While it’s 1-0, everyone’s got a chance. People don’t roll over and get their bellies tickled, everyone’s competitive regardless of what league you’re playing in. You want to win games of football and if one team is a little bit complacent or wasteful in terms of its finishing, you’ll always leave yourself open to that sucker-punch.
"On Wednesday, we were in control of the game and without getting that second goal, you always leave that opportunity for the opposition to get back into it. Credit to our lads, we didn’t rest on our laurels and it would have been easy to accept the lottery of a shootout, but they went and found a way to win the game.
"Last-minute winners do nothing than fill the group with confidence, especially when there have been changes to the starting XI and we’re getting minutes into lads.
"Cup football, as we’ve seen from the Rochdale game and the Colchester game, is about getting into the next round and progressing. We did that on Wednesday night and got a home draw in the next round. On Sunday, we’re hoping we can get a positive result and a positive performance and make sure we’re in the hat for the third-round draw on Monday."
Boreham Wood are 10th in the National League but have had a difficult run of late, going winless in their past five league games. They beat fifth-tier rivals Eastleigh to reach this stage of the competition.
After a tricky run for Luke Garrard's side, Barton says the pressure is off for Boreham Wood, but he is confident the Gas will continue their good form after losing just once in their past 12 outings in all competitions.
"They’ll be looking at our form and they will be concerned because the past 12-15 games, there has been a marked improvement," Barton said. "I think they’ve had a half-decent start, but they lost last time out at Halifax and they’ve had some difficult moments.
"Progressing past Eastleigh in the cup has been the bright spot and they’ll welcome it as a distraction, but we all know how important form is. It’s nice to have the distraction of a cup competition, but if you’re not playing particularly great football, the FA Cup doesn’t just turn up and give you a bout of confidence.
"For them, they’ll feel the pressure is off and it is a chance for them to take another scalp, which they showed last year they are more than capable of doing."
Paul Coutts and Harry Anderson are unavailable for Rovers through injury, but Josh Coburn has been given the all clear from parent club Middlesbrough to play on Sunday after sitting out the first-round win over Rochdale earlier this month.
Backup goalkeeper Anssi Jaakkola is a doubt after he was forced off with a dead leg at Colchester, but Barton says teenager Jed Ward is available to step up to the bench to offer cover for James Belshaw after recovering from a broken hand, if he is required.
"He (Jaakkola) hasn’t trained today, but we think he’ll be alright," Barton said. "There are a couple with bumps and bruises that haven’t gone out today, but we expect them to train tomorrow.
"Hopefully, he’s fine. He’s limping a bit, but he’s a big, tough Finn. He should be OK with a bit of a bruise.
"Jed’s back training. He hasn’t long been back training and you would want him to have a bit more game practice, but if required to fill Anssi’s shoes I think he’ll be ready."
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