Luton Town v Doncaster Rovers: Clarity of thought helps Owen Bailey retain self-belief
DONCASTER ROVERS captain Owen Bailey blanked out the noise as opposed to dwell on his goalscoring 'blank' during his near two-month run without finding the net.
Doing that was relatively easy. He can count on the fervent backing of his manager Grant McCann, for sure, but also has the support of a sports psychologist, who he regularly works with.
Working with mind coaches is an increasing part of the modern-day game and not just for leading players either.
The words and messages certainly had the desired effect on Saturday with Bailey back to his best and netting a tidy match-winning brace in Rovers' relieving derby win over Sheffield Wednesday.
It's set them up nicely ahead of another tough game on Tuesday evening against play-off hopefuls Luton Town.
On whether his goal drought had been bothering him, Bailey said: "Not really, to be honest.
"I was frustrated with myself because I know I can score goals and help the team.
"But it wasn't like I was missing loads of chances. I wasn't beating myself up, it was about doubling down on what I do well and making the right runs and reviewing a lot of footage.
"I do a lot of work on the mental side of the game and get a lot of help from the people I speak to. Hopefully, I can continue to get in the right places and get on the scoresheet.
"I am in regular contact (with sports psychologist) and we texted on Saturday. My agent Andrew is the same and we're really big on the mental side.
"It's something I have really bought into, and I feel like it's made a massive difference to my game and I love doing it and enjoy it.
"It's good for blocking out the noise.
"You can get carried away with all sorts going on, off the pitch. Ultimately, all you can do is control what you do on that field.
"But working on that regularly, I think it only benefits me."
Against Wednesday, Rovers – with key full-backs Jamie Sterry and Jack Senior being welcome returnees in a 4-2-3-1 formation – produced an in-character performance in their best traditions from the past couple of seasons.
They were aggressive, bold and took the game to their derby rivals. The key is sustaining that approach and not being safe, as Bailey puts it.
Bailey continued: "The formation has been something we've had to kind of change and adjust.
"We won three games in that shape and the important thing is we can go and flip between different shapes within the game.
"But our principles stay the same. Saturday reinforced that and showed what we were about.
"The energy, desire and running power were really positive and much more like us.
"Sometimes, we have been guilty of trying to play too much and being safe. I'm sure the manager has spoken about that a lot.
"But this (Saturday) was more like us in terms of directness, energy, and the bit between our teeth, which I really enjoyed.
"We've got players coming back to fitness at the right time and competition for places is ramping up.
"Hopefully, it's onwards and upwards and we can really kick on."