Richie Barker talks to www.themillers.co.uk...
Rotherham United assistant manager Richie Barker says he will be looking to harness the positive mood around the training ground following last weekend’s win at Blackpool, as the Millers prepare themselves to face an ever-improving Plymouth Argyle side on Saturday.
This weekend’s clash at AESSEAL New York Stadium will see the Millers take on a Plymouth side who are enjoying a good run of form, which defies their position in the bottom four of Sky Bet League One and Barker insists the hosts will not underestimate their Devonshire opponents.
“Hopefully we have now turned our backs on what was not a great run of results and it will hopefully change the mentality of the players and we can now start to look forward," he told www.themillers.co.uk.
“It lifts everybody's spirits and it makes it a more enjoyable place to be.
“Certainly over the last couple of games, their [Plymouth] form suggests that they're not a bottom four team. It's not a game we'll go into lightly and just assume it's Plymouth, who are in the bottom four and everything will be fine.”
The Pilgrims have enjoyed an upturn in form of late, having won three of their last five league fixtures and the Millers assistant boss reiterated that preparations for this weekend’s game will be as meticulous as if their next fixture was against one of the third tier’s leading sides.
“We'll be treating this as though we're playing a Wigan, Blackburn or a Shrewsbury so we won't be going into this with any complacency,” Barker continued.
“I think if the league season had started six weeks later they certainly wouldn't be where they are now.
“They have been a victim of a few sending offs and goalkeeping issues over the last few weeks. I think its five games in a row they've had a sending off and they're now on their seventh goalkeeper so they've had all sorts of adversity thrown at them.