Bristol Rovers' home form has soared in recent weeks, but Joey Barton is mindful the Gas must improve their returns on the road if they are to compete for promotion.
Rovers have claimed 13 points from a possible 15 in their past five games at the Mem, keeping four straight clean sheets in 2022, but Barton's side have won just three of 14 away fixtures in League Two this term.
That surge of form at home has lifted Rovers to 11th in the table, seven points adrift of the play-offs with 17 games remaining.
Ahead of Saturday's trip to Stevenage, Barton called on his players to cut out the errors that have given teams "leg ups" in away games so far this season, such as the sloppy goal conceded in the opening minute at Oldham Athletic on February 8 that set the tone for a poor performance at Boundary Park.
"Get your team selection right, get your tactics right and that’s pretty much it," Barton replied when asked what role he can play as a coach in improving Rovers' away record. "You’ve got to get everything right to win away from home or win any game of football.
"At home, I really do believe the fans’ effect has helped us flip that over and the positivity. The angst that was in the stadium at the early part of the season has dissipated, it’s gone. People are turning up now and believing in the team, even if they’re under a spell of pressure from the opponent. They know the lads go to the 95th minute because they’ve scored a lot of late goals and they know this group of players is fully committed to the quarters.
"Away from home, you’re reliant upon getting everything right because if you don’t get everything right, you make it difficult to maximise the opportunity to take three points.
"We’ve given teams legs up by being sloppy in the opening gambit like we did at Oldham with the early goal, and at this level, giving somebody confidence and leg up is the last thing you want to do, as Bournemouth will attest to against Boreham Wood in the FA Cup. West Ham got over the line just against Kidderminster. Chelsea against Plymouth were under the gun for a bit.
"If you give any team a leg up, it’s tough. Especially in our situation, the last thing we want to do is be giving anybody a leg up. At home, we’ve been really good at that in recent weeks and months, and we must make sure we carry that home form and mindset into every stadium we visit between now and the end of the season."
Rovers face a reunion with former manager Paul Tisdale, who Barton replaced almost a year ago, plus ex-players Chris Lines, Ed Upson and James Daly on Saturday. Zain Westbrooke, who is on loan at the Lamex Stadium from the Gas, is ineligible to play.
The current Rovers boss has not held back in giving brutal assessments of the club he inherited from Tisdale 12 months ago, and his use of the word "negligent" in March when describing the work of his predecessors led the now Stevenage manager to consider legal action. Tisdale later said the matter had been resolved after Rovers removed a video of the press conference in question from its website.
"No doubt (Tisdale) will be wanting to put one across us, certainly after what I said about them in the press," Barton said after Tuesday's win over Sutton, but the Rovers boss insists there is no added spice for himself when the sides meet on Saturday.
"Not for me, there’s not," he said on Thursday. "It’s just another game, another team in our way. Somebody we’ve got to knock off and beat and we know we’ll have to be the best version of ourselves because in this league if you don’t turn up and pay it respect – as we learned from the Oldham game – there are no easy games in this division.
"Regardless of who’s in the opposition dugout or the opposition team, our focus will be on ourselves and giving the best account of ourselves on Saturday."
Tisdale had initially overseen an upturn in form for Stevenage after he took over in late November, but his side have gone four games without a win and are only seven points clear of the relegation zone in 17th, only seven points clear of 23rd place Oldham Athletic having played three games more.
The Rovers boss believes there is information the Gas can utilise from Tisdale's tenure in BS7 to maximise their chances of winning in Hertfordshire on Saturday, but with the stakes high for Stevenage Barton is wary of the challenges they could pose.
"With the greatest respect to Stevenage, they’ve been struggling to get a few results back going," Barton said.
"We know they’ve got some good players and players who can cause us problems.
"In terms of formation, from what I gather about Paul Tisdale here, we’ve got some information that we think they’ll do. Obviously, I’m not going to reveal that to you guys here in terms of tactically because no doubt he’ll tune into this interview and try to pick holes in it and find an advantage because that’s what we usually do to opposition managers.
"We’re confident that if we play the way we want to play, we can cause everybody problems, but we have to be at our best because Stevenage on their own patch will be intent on putting that bit of a poor run behind them and Bristol Rovers will be in town and it’s an opportunity for them to gain some momentum."
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