ROVERS continued their march up the table with a hard-fought victory at Southport on Saturday to make it five consecutive wins.

After impressing in recent games with some attractive attacking football, the contest at the Merseyrail Community Stadium was an occasion when the team had to dig in and battle for three valuable points. The players showed their mettle by being up to the challenge, defending resolutely to ensure the lead gained through an excellent Gosling strike was not in vain.

Previous Rovers teams would have crumbled away from home in the face of some pressure, but we are greatly encouraged by the qualities that have been instilled in the current squad.

This team has learnt the lessons from lame defeats at Altrincham and Braintree and have adapted well to the demands of the Conference. They are now starting quickly and putting the opposition under immediate pressure, something which has also been alien to sides that have donned the blue and white quarters in recent memory.

We are looking more dangerous up front and there is also an impressive defensive resilience about the team, with the towering Trotman leading by example.

The midfield has the right balance of attack-minded players and those who can break up play and retain possession to ease pressure on the back four.

With plenty of team spirit on display, there are signs that we can be a force to be reckoned with this season as optimism is rising with every game.

The winning sequence may have come to an end at Eastleigh on Tuesday night but we returned with a creditable 1-1 draw to extend our unbeaten run to six games.

The players showed their battling qualities once again as they came back from a goal down to equalise thanks to an Ollie Clarke wonder strike.

They also refused to let heads drop after the sending off of goalkeeper Mildenhall, despite playing for an hour with 10 men.

Rovers have an excellent chance to put another six points on the board with home games against Dover on Saturday and Dartford on Tuesday.