Joey Barton savoured the moment of celebration as Bristol Rovers returned to winning ways with a commanding 3-0 win at Oxford United on Saturday.
Both teams were in terrible form heading into the game, but Rovers were much the better side and romped to victory amid a toxic atmosphere with the home fans calling for manager Karl Robinson to be sacked.
While Oxford were hapless, Rovers were ruthless and they went ahead midway through the first half when a penalty won by Lamare Bogarde was coolly converted by Scott Sinclair. Sinclair then turned provider soon after and laid on a pinpoint cross for Aaron Collins to double the lead.
With the hosts fired up for the second half, the Gas held firm and managed the game expertly before the outstanding Luca Hoole made sure of the points with a towering header with 15 minutes to go.
Barton celebrated the victory – which lifted Rovers to 11th ahead of the 3pm kick-offs – with the 1,437 travelling supporters, launching some long-awaited fist pumps into the cool Oxfordshire air to mark the end of a seven-game winless run.
"Well, you know I actually don’t like doing that," he said of his post-match victory ritual. "It’s against my personality to do that, but in the past few weeks, I have realised how much I actually miss it and how important it is to have that connection with the fanbase.
"Sometimes when you’re on a bad run, you never know when it is actually going to come or if it’s ever going to come again. For some managers, you get on a losing streak and it’s tough to shake off.
"I’m so pleased for our players and fans and our younger and newer players to see how passionate our fans are. They turned up and took their allocation today and supported the team right through the game and now they know what it’s like to win in a quartered jersey.
"Nothing you can give them or buy replaces that feeling, so it’s an important moment for us to get back looking up the table and the most important thing is a solid defensive showing and a clean sheet to go with the three goals."
Barton believe Oxford, who were in even worse form that Rovers heading into the game, were an ideal opponent due to their style and the Gas capitalised to full effect.
The manager says it will be an important milestone in the development of his young players as they look to kick on in the final 13 games of the season.
He said: "We always felt it was going to come, and obviously it’s tricky when you’re in the spell we’re playing another good side because we had lost five or six coming in and a lot of them were to teams in the bottom six who don’t really play. They boot it long and it’s quite hard to set up against that.
"Historically, we have done better against teams that have a pattern of play and don’t play hoof-it football, and Oxford are one of those teams. They have an ability to build out from goal kicks and they have a lot of offensive threats, and that kind of suits our team.
"We’ve got some big boys to come through the Mem in a couple of months and we have got to travel to some of the big boys as well, but, weirdly, we look forward to playing the aggressive and forward-thinking attacking teams.
"With this young group in the past few weeks, we have really struggled against teams who ask a lot of physical questions by booting the ball long and competing. We’ll be better for that baptism and adversity we have come through, but also we are looking up the table again because we have been able to keep a valuable clean sheet and score three goals on our travels."
SIGN UP: To receive our free Rovers newsletter, bringing you the latest from the Mem
READ NEXT:
