Joey Barton believes Bristol Rovers responded to his calls for ruthlessness after a dominant 4-0 win at Stevenage on Saturday, but he wants more from his players.
The Gas were untouchable at The Lamex Stadium, where Sam Finley opened the scoring with a sublime finish shortly before half time.
Elliot Anderson, Harry Anderson and Aaron Collins added goals in the second period to delight the 703 Gasheads in the away end as Rovers moved to within five points of League Two's top seven.
Barton was delighted by the result, but he believes his side could have added more goals to their tally on Saturday.
"The lads were superb today," Barton said. "I’m a little bit gutted we haven’t put eight or nine on them because that was an opportunity to do that. We’ve carved out some fantastic opportunities, but it's three points and we move on to a tough fixture on Tuesday night against Leyton Orient.
"Obviously, it’s nice to get into the positive goal difference because I’ve felt in recent weeks if we had one criticism of the guys it would be that we weren’t being clinical enough. But they took that on today, they showed a different side, a different gear.
"We’ve been hitting threes and fours out of 10. Sutton was a five or six because we were lacking that last little bit. I still think that’s a seven or eight out of 10. You have to take into account the quality of the opposition.
"You can see how strong the group is now. Physically, mentally and technically strong, but again we have to turn up on Tuesday night against a Leyton Orient side on a tricky run of their own, trying to steal our momentum. So, really pleased but again 16 more to go.
"But really good signs. As I’ve said, if you’re in a horse race and you see there are 16 games left to go, you want to be making real progress when the finish line is in sight.
"We’ve worked hard to get to this point. We have to stay hungry and humble and keep turning up and performing like we did today."
Barton revealed in his post-match press conference Elliot Anderson, who was outstanding on Saturday, has been given the nickname "Billy", with his tricky feet and thick Geordie accent drawing comparisons to Billy Elliot from his teammates.
The manager hailed the 19-year-old's performance at full time after the Newcastle United prospect scored his first goal in senior football.
"I’m delighted for young Billy, he’s got his first goal and you can see what a talent he is," Barton said.
"We knew the quality we were getting with Elliot. Billy is what they’re calling him, for Billy Elliot, Geordie boy, a bit of a ballerina. It’s starting to stick now as a nickname. That’s a sign of where the group is at with him.
"He’s been a real bonus. We were trying to get a player that we thought would improve the quality of the squad but that didn’t materialise.
"We ended up taking Elliot quite late in the window, and if I’m honest he’s much better than the player we would have taken. Sometimes, as I say, the sun shines on the righteous and today I thought our lads came of age in the blustery conditions."
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