Jamie Lindsay has declared that Bristol Rovers’ 3-0 defeat at Leyton Orient on Tuesday night is a feeling that he nor his teammates want to feel again while also admitting that the midfielder’s own performances of late have been below his standards.
For the second league game in a row, Rovers failed to produce a shot on target in a miserable evening at Brisbane Road, conceding three first half goals while being lucky not to concede more in the second half.
Like in their 2-0 defeat against Blackpool the week prior, the Gas offered very little in the final third with severely limited quality in the final third lately a real concern. Even against Barnsley on Saturday in the FA Cup they produced just one shot on target in a game where defensive resilience and outstanding goalkeeping got them to a penalty shootout which they won.
After having to be patient at the very start of his Rovers career as his fitness built up, Lindsay has since started 14 of the Gas’ last 15 matches across all competitions, scoring some crucial goals. However, lately the midfielder has experienced a dip in his performance levels with Tuesday a difficult night for himself and his teammates in their poorest display of the campaign so far.
“It was tough, really tough,” Lindsay reflected. “Something that me personally and probably the players don’t want to feel again. Especially after winning on Saturday, having the feeling of going through and it just felt like we hit a big bang. So it’s our job obviously to never feel like that again.
“Obviously we take responsibility. Even this morning we had a meeting and we know that it wasn’t good enough from start to finish really. So we need to be big enough and take it on the chin.
“There’s times where you do well and people say nice things and there’s times where you don’t play well which is kind of happening now and people say bad things but you need to be able to stand up to that and take it as a group. I think we need to do that better. It’s obviously on us.
“I know personally, I’m big enough and old enough to know that the last two, three weeks I’ve been below where I should be. It’s up to me to put that right.”
At 29, Lindsay, although he doesn’t look it, is one of the most senior players in this particularly young Rovers squad and has therefore had to take up a leadership role.
The midfielder has also been taking 21-year-old Kamil Conteh under his wing with the pair starting to develop a good partnership in the middle of the pitch, although Conteh missed Tuesday night through suspension.
In an interview last month, the Sierra Leone international insisted he’s enjoying playing alongside Lindsay but that the Scotsman has been known to shout at his midfield partner on the pitch…something that got the 29-year-old in trouble at home.
“My wife gave me trouble for this,” Lindsay laughed. “She must have read it. I’m not on social media so I don’t read it but she said to me, ‘why do you keep shouting at Kam?’ I said ‘I don’t!’
“I think that’s what you need as well as a player [time to build a partnership] anywhere. If it’s two strikers or if it’s two centre-halves, if it’s a right-back and the right mid, I think you need to build that connection, that partnership and it takes time. It doesn’t just happen overnight.
“Obviously I’ve been in since pre-season but it took me time to get fit. Kam has obviously played with different people. To be fair, Kam has done really well. Good player and we’ve got a good understanding.
“I still think we will be better and should be better but so far I’ve really enjoyed playing with him.
“I think you get to that age,” he added. “It’s just experience. But I even said to some of the young lads that I can remember being 21 and maybe a 28-year-old, 29-year-old saying to me ‘your career goes quick’ and you think ‘ah, I’ll be fine’ but it does. I’m 29 now, I’m one of the older players and it does go quick.
“But I feel like I’m at a good age. The last few weeks, as I said earlier, I’m honest enough to know that I’ve not been where I should be but it’s probably partly down to a wee bit of last season, not playing as much through injury and then obviously this season I’ve been playing and just trying to build up and really get back into the rhythm of doing Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday, Tuesday.
“So in that way I feel a bit older, aye, but I’m sure once everything settles and the Saturday, Tuesdays stop at the end of this week, I’ll be in a good stage to kick on from there.”
Trying not to focus too much on age but the experience and knowhow Lindsay brings to a largely inexperienced is invaluable.
The Scotsman came through the youth ranks at a juggernaut of a club in Celtic and spent the last five years at Rotherham United during which time he spent three seasons playing in the Championship and his two campaigns in League One led to promotion and an EFL Trophy too.
Those Rotherham teams under the management of Paul Warne became synonymous with immediately bouncing back after relegation from the Championship and, when asked what the major factors that contributed success in those teams were, there was a stand out for Lindsay.
“The biggest, I would say, is probably the dressing room,” he declared. “Obviously we had good players. You look at some of the players now that have kicked on but I’d probably say that one of the main reasons was obviously Paul Warne was a manager that was really into togetherness.
“I’d say that probably in this day and age or young people probably don’t understand how key that is. It’s something where football’s kind of moved on a wee bit. But I’d say that’s one of the biggest things, the dressing room.
“You’re not going to go anywhere without fight and commitment so I’d probably say that and then obviously the quality on top which, when you look at the dressing room, we do have. We do have good quality, it’s just about, as I said, bringing it consistently because I think everybody can see that it’s not been consistently where it should be but I think if we get that right then we’ll get to where we need to be.”
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Having played in his native Scotland before moving to South Yorkshire and spending five years there, the move down to Bristol was a significant one, not just football-wise but lifestyle too.
The midfielder detailed in a previous interview that it took until the end of September to move out of his hotel, having made the move in July. However, he’s now settled in the South West but could also do with some more wins to help.
“It’s been good,” Lindsay exclaimed. “Obviously, like anywhere else, up and down a bit. It’s all based on results, really. When you’re winning you’re happy. When you’re not winning, I take it quite bad, you’re not happy. But I’ve really enjoyed it.
“It’s something different. Like anybody moving anywhere, it’s difficult. It’s never just pack up your house and go into a new house. It takes a bit of time. I’m finally in the house now and that side of things is a bit better but I’m sure if, no matter if it’s good on the pitch, then I’m sure off the pitch it will take care of itself.
“I had a poor season last season and I just wanted to get back playing and get back to enjoying it. I’m thankful I was doing that, obviously the last few weeks have been difficult, but as I said, it’s the results. We could be sitting here and we could have won the last few weeks and I’d be the happiest man ever.
“Obviously I knew the gaffer which was a big part of it but to be fair when I came here and I seen the training ground and the pitches, like I just wanted to go somewhere where I thought that I could make a difference and just get back to enjoying it really.
“I probably didn’t enjoy football as much as what I should have the last year but that’s obviously due to different circumstances but I just wanted to get back to enjoying football and playing it with a smile on my face, something which I’ve done since I was a kid really. So that was probably really why.”