'I don’t think we should fear anyone' - Matt Smith on why confidence is key for Doncaster Rovers

And the Manchester City loanee believes the club’s key to success this season will be the squad all sharing in that belief.

“We know how good we are,” he told the Free Press.

“I don’t think we should fear anyone. That’s important for us.

“We’ve got a really good team, quality players so I think it’s just not fearing anyone.

“And I don’t think we do."

The 21-year-old says Rovers’ strong first third of the season has been down to their workrate in matches and their ability to keep their energy levels and tempo up for longer than most opposition teams.

“We pride ourselves on no team that we play against will work harder than us,” he said.

“I think the games where we didn’t win, like Hull away, they maybe just worked a bit physically harder than us.

“We don’t know why that was but if we have that ability to work hard, and I remember Ipswich at home for example, it was full throttle and when we do that then teams can’t live with us.

“Lincoln, Gillingham on Saturday - if we go full throttle and the lads like doing that, as a team we are very good.”

Smith pointed to Saturday’s impressive performance against on-form Gillingham as an example of what an aggressive, front foot Rovers side is capable of.

Rovers produced an incredibly high tempo to their play to break down a stubborn opposition that set out to deny them space.

“Especially in the first half it was a really good performance, I thought we managed the ball well and we were in complete control of the game,” he said.

“It was an enjoyable game.

“We all know now and I think we’ve really started to believe it, but if we play like we did on Saturday then there’s not a lot of teams that can deal with us.

“You’ve seen it throughout the season, we’ve beaten the so called bigger teams and that is something we’ve just got to take in our stride.

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