Joey Barton: Bristol Rovers 'fancy our chances' against anyone

Manager Joey Barton says Bristol Rovers 'fancy our chances' against anyone in the league ahead of tomorrow's clash with Northampton.

Rovers, who were relegated alongside Town last season, are gradually picking up after a poor start to the campaign, though their home form remains patchy with three defeats in the last four league games.

"The club’s got a great record against them (Northampton) in the past and we probably should have won there last year in a vital league game," said Barton in Friday's pre-match press conference.

"I’m looking forward to the game. We want to be back in our stadium and we fancy our chances of playing anyone at this moment in time.

"Looking forward to this week. We’ve got a cup tie sandwiched in the middle of two really difficult games against fellow teams that are trying to be in the higher echelons of the table."

On facing the Cobblers, Barton added: "Northampton are on a good little run themselves, I think they’ve won four on the spin.

"In our stadium, we want to start to make the Mem a really tough place to come. We haven’t managed to do that consistently enough.

"Away from home, we’ve been hard to beat and we’ve shown a bit of resilience. At home, we need to galvanise our fanbase by putting in a solid performance and winning a game of football.

"It feels like the whole place has turned a corner and I think solid away performances count for loads, but it’s really important we have a solid home performance and we have a really good week this week.

"If we go and win three games this week, all of a sudden our season seems to be moving in a completely different direction than what it was maybe a couple of months ago."