Paul Dickov has delivered a verdict that will be music to Rovers fans’ ears – the best is yet to come.
Always a positive figure, Dickov insists he is looking forward to the run-in due to the major new faces who have come into the side.
And he believes the freshness of his side will give them the edge over relegation rivals, starting with the derby against struggling Barnsley this weekend.
“It might sound stupid but although it’s February, we’ve still got a relatively new group,” Dickov said.
“If you look through the team we’ve got Sam Johnstone, Gabby Tamas, Abdou Meite and Billy Sharp coming in plus James Husband coming back and possibly another striker coming in.
“They’re still a relatively young group in terms of playing games together.
“The big thing for me is they’ve gelled really quickly and I still feel there is more to come from them.
“The more they play, the better they will get.”
Though he may have been disappointed with the defeat at Brighton last weekend, Dickov admits he was pleased to see the downbeat mood in his side’s dressing room at the Amex after the game.
He said: “The boys were really downbeat after the game but I don’t see that as a bad thing.
“This is Brighton who have just beaten Leeds to move really close to the play-offs.
“To be disappointed that we’ve not got the points and feel like we should have, shows how far we’ve come as a group.
“With the squad and set-up they’ve got down there, it shows you what we’ve done in such a short space of time.
“There’s plenty of confidence in the group and although we lost last weekend, a good performance against a top side has helped us keep that confidence up.”
Gabriel Tamas should be fit for Saturday’s crunch South Yorkshire derby after being withdrawn at half time at Brighton.
Harry Forrester is likely to return to the squad after returning to full training this week following his ankle problem.
Theo Robinson is expected to return to full training next week.