I CAN understand Gary Bowyer’s thinking behind signing a target man in Rudy Gestede.

Yes it’s great to play football week in and week out and keep the ball on the floor.

But in this division sometimes you have to have the option of knocking it long.

If you’re under a bit of pressure you need somebody up there to hold the ball up.

Hopefully Rudy will do this and if he does, that will take some of the pressure off Jordan Rhodes as well.

I used to like playing up alongside a big man because it did make it easier for me.

Eighty or 90 per cent off my career I played with a target man who would take the pressure off me, chase the channels and flick on long balls – letting me get on with scoring goals.

Jordan is there as a goalscorer whose main responsibility is to get 20 goals a season.

He’s not going to do that by running around all game. You can’t do everything.

To give Jordan his dues, when he’s playing by himself he works hard.

But what we want from him is to be in the box as when that chance arrives, you know 99 per cent of the time he will take it.

With Rudy’s signing, Gary all of a sudden has got some nice selection headaches.

Having a close to fully fit squad is much better than having injuries when the team has to pick itself.

When that happens players can become complacent, knowing that there is a good chance they will be playing the week after even if they have had a nightmare on the Saturday.

But when you’ve got most of your players available it ups the pressure on you as an individual to play well week in and week out.

Hopefully we’ll see the benefit of this competition against Leeds United tomorrow.

Leeds are a massive club. They always have been and even in their bad times they have always been very well supported.

They are always a tough team to play against, no matter who their manager is and no matter who is playing for them, because you know that their fans will get behind them and will follow them everywhere.

I believe they’re bringing a lot of fans tomorrow. But really, if anything, that should lift Rovers.