'Levels have dropped' - Billy Sharp's honest admission as Doncaster Rovers look to return to form
Doncaster Rovers veteran Billy Sharp says he and his colleagues need to up their output and get back to winning ways this weekend.
Rovers are looking to snap a four-game losing streak when Burton Albion visit the Eco-Power Stadium on Saturday lunchtime (12.30pm). After a blank midweek where the reset button was pressed at Cantley Park, Sharp admits it's now up to the players to get things going again.
"We're disappointed with the results we've had and the levels have dropped individually and collectively these last few games," Sharp, who has two goals to his name so far this term. "So we need to get back to what we were doing when we were getting results and just have a bit more belief in each other. We're at home so we need to take the game to them (Burton).
"We talked about not getting going until half-time at Luton or maybe having good first halves and then coming off. We need to put in performances for most of the game.
"We need to make sure that our game is right and top of our game and get back to defending how we have been because we've conceded some poor goals lately. If the other team sticks one in the top-corner from 30 yards then fair do's but at the minute we're not quite at it in either box, where it counts. If you're not at it in this league you get punished, unlike maybe last year.
Sharp, who believes he is "due a goal" after a personal three-game drought, has started eight of Rovers' ten league games so far with fellow forwards Brandon Hanlan and Toyosi Olusanya yet to get on the scoresheet amid tough starts to each of their careers in South Yorkshire.
But the 39-year-old is adamant that his colleagues are here on merit after Grant McCann brought both of them to the club following promotion last season.
Sharp told the Free Press: "Obviously I've started the last five or six games but we only tend to play with one number nine. It's been difficult for Brandon to get in the squad and he wants to be in the team. We're all pushing.
"But no-one, including myself, is really hitting the ground running so we need to get back to that as a team. It's not just about me, Brandon and Toyosi. We need to help each other. Obviously last week those two were on the pitch together which was a different dynamic to how we started the game. And I think that's why the manager's brought them in, to give us a different way of playing and different options. All three of us want to get on that scoresheet to try and help the team."