Bristol Rovers midfielder Issac Hutchinson has highlighted how he is enjoying every minute under new head coach Inigo Calderon, following Saturday’s shock 3-1 victory over playoff-chasing Barnsley.
The 24-year-old bagged his second goal of the season and really impressed in an advanced midfield position. Speaking to club media, Hutchinson was clearly delighted to get on the scoresheet for the first time since October, in front of a pumped-up crowd at The Memorial Stadium:
“I didn’t want to celebrate; to be honest, I wanted to wait ten or 15 seconds to see if the linesman was going to put his flag up,” said Hutchinson. “I feel like it has been coming. I feel like I have had a couple of pretty much perfectly good goals to my name for the last couple of games before that.”
“So, I feel like it’s been coming. It was just nice to get it, and it counted.”
“It’s what I’m in the team to do at the end of the day. It’s something I want to do more of between now and the end of the season.”
“It’s something the whole squad has been craving,” said the midfielder. “To get that with the fans and have that connection because, especially at The Mem, it has probably been a bit few and far between where it’s been a bit disappointing with the results and probably hard to feel that connection“
Hutchinson was also keen to mention how the new style of play under the leadership of Calderon has helped develop him as a player and as a squad, with The Gas now winning back-to-back league games for the first time since October, subsequently building up a seven-point gap between them and the relegation zone:
“I feel like there’s definitely been loads of signs of improvement,” said Hutchinson. “Since when he’s been appointed to now, we’ve done a lot of training, and he’s been really clear on what he wants from us, and he’s hammered it home every day with the sessions that we do.
“I don’t think that’s going to stop. I think it’s something that’s going to be a work in progress, and over time, we’re going to keep improving with it.
“There’s definitely a freedom to it, and to be fair, the gaffer said to us that the freedom comes from a discipline with the shape and the way we play. So, we have to do that first and then around that, there’s obviously the freedom to attack and create and get chances, which I think we’ve done probably over the last four or five games.”
Writers View.
You can tell that the mood around the club at Bristol Rovers is completely switching with Calderon in charge, suddenly there is a belief around the players and the fans.
The Gas will hope they can use the January window to bring in reinforcements to help them steer clear of the bottom four, and have no concerns about potential relegation, and Hutchinson will be key to that.
