Schumacher's Bristol Rovers Preview

On Sunday night, three individual awards were dished out for Sky Bet League One at the annual EFL Awards.

Pilgrims boss Steven Schumacher was named the division’s Manager of the Season, and Argyle’s Bali Mumba won Young Player of the Season. Meanwhile, Bristol Rovers forward Aaron Collins was named as the overall League One Player of the Season.

All three will be part of Argyle’s next home game, when the Pilgrims meet Rovers at Home Park, with the Greens looking for three of the five points that they need to seal promotion.

For Schumacher, the award was a pleasing validation of what has been a collectively excellent campaign, but there is a far bigger target that the manager has in mind.

“I think it's always good to get recognised for individual awards, but I would swap them all gladly right now for a promotion.

“That was the target at the start of the season. We are three games away from achieving it. We know that if we play to the standards that we have done for the majority of the season, then we can get the points that are required.

“We're slightly ahead of Ipswich, slightly ahead of Sheffield Wednesday and we know we are going to have to show that consistency. Otherwise, if we don't and we fall off that, then those two teams and Barnsley are also really good. If we don't get the results we need, then we'll get punished.”

Rovers are 15th in League One, with 52 points from 42 games played. They have tended to have spells of great form interspersed with defeats, but have achieved creditable results against teams in the top six, including draws with Sheffield Wednesday, Ipswich Town and, earlier in the season, at the Memorial Stadium, Argyle.

“We know Tuesday night against Bristol Rovers is going to be a really tough game.

“Every game is a huge game, but this one that's in front of us now is massive and we need to make sure that we're prepared as best as we can for it. We’ll put in the same energy, play with the same amounts of effort as we did at the weekend, and play with the same quality if we can.

“On their day they can beat anyone in the division. They’re really strong. They have the League One Player of the Season in Aaron Collins, who's got unbelievable numbers this year, so many goals and assists. He's been outstanding, but he's not the only one in their team performing well. Whatever system that they choose to play, we know that they're a threat all the time, and I know that they're going to be really motivated to beat us. 

“Every day we talk about standards in training. We pride ourselves on getting that right. If the attitude to learn and try to get better as a squad is there all the time, then you've got a chance to get some consistent results.

“We've been, in my opinion, really consistent and played really well for a large part of the season. We've had dips, as every team has, but we're still there. We're still in the mix. Three games to go and it’s in our own hands.”