Rowe’s praise for young guns' attitude

Winger Opi Edwards and midfielder Ryley Tower have been part of the matchday squad this season, with Edwards having made his league debut against Reading.

And striker Sam Bell, a regular goalscorer with the Under-23s, made his professional debut last weekend, as Dean Holden shows his faith and pride in the Academy system.

Experienced Rowe has been encouraged by the standards the young lads have shown, and how they have helped to push the squad to the top of their game.

“With this run of games, it’s more important than ever to get that application from the youngsters,” the left-sided defender/midfielder told Robins TV. “The days you come in after a game are key training sessions, especially two days between a game, and they put pressure on the lads who are starting or on the bench, to get the effort in and raise the standards.

“The standards have been incredible from the young lads. Ryley and Opi have been with us a while and their standards are improving every day. It’s great to see the hunger and desire to train, it makes you a good professional.

“Everyone can be a professional, but it’s how you push that. It’s what the gaffer and the senior players demand and it’s a good working environment then with everyone pulling in the right direction.”

Having everyone pulling in the right direction has helped the team compete at the top end of the Sky Bet Championship, with City in the play-off pack ahead of Saturday’s trip to take on Rotherham United (Saturday, December 12th, 3pm KO).

Rowe says sleep and recovery is vital with the games coming so thick and fast – the trip to South Yorkshire will be less than 72 hours off the back of Wednesday’s victory over Blackburn Rovers.

“There were a few tired legs out there but we’re all motivated to get that work in. These days are important to recover…but we’ve got to maintain standards and we’re excited for the next week ahead,” Rowe said.

“There are a lot of teams on similar points at the minute and we know what it’s long with this run of games. We have to go into it with the same attitude of the last three of four games, we know we’re in a tough run and competition for places is important.

“We have players who can come in, we can rest certain places so to be fluid with that approach and know how important it is, especially with injuries we’ve had, that we get through this period and do ourselves proud, and put ourselves in the right position going into the New Year.

“Thankfully we’ve plugged away and got the results we’ve wanted. We’re in a good position, the games come thick and fast but the way we prepare is important. Having that mentality that we have a good enough squad to win these game – injuries will happen and there’s no guarantee those will get better after January – all we can do is put ourselves in the right position to help ease that flow.”

PRESS CONFERENCE

Hear every word from Rowe's press conference as he virtually faced the media, discussing an end-to-end game with Blackburn, City's young stars and more:

Rotherham v City (Saturday, December 12th, 3pm KO) will be streamed live on Robins TV, with £10 matchday passes now available to purchase.

ROTHERHAM V CITY - GET YOUR ROBINS TV PASS