Northampton haven’t a leg to stand on. Hill made just 3 changes to the Scunthorpe side which drew against Hartlepool. He’s been playing teenagers for weeks. We won’t have to replay the fixture - as we all know, we won fair and square by playing brilliant football against a dire outfit who had only won 4 times all season. I read today in Bristol Live that Billy has already gone back up to the North East - he could well be called up as midfield cover due to injuries to Willock and Shelvey. As much as I’d love it to be true, I can’t see us signing him. We are yet to exceed the £370k we paid for Andy Tillson back in 1992. I very much doubt we could get Billy for even triple that figure. I’d love to be proven totally wrong (again)!!
Having said that, I’ve just read the Chronicle article and it appears that Newcastle are giving another loan spell with Rovers some serious thought, despite Championship clubs queuing up to sign him on loan. That would be fantastic if we can get him for a season in L1.
Didn't know Northamptons sour grapes was being discussed here. I've just mentioned it in another thread You would think they woukd concentrate on their play off games. Not looking good if they ain't letting go.
If you google Bristol Rovers there is an article on BBC sport which states that Northampton have contacted the EFL but have NOT lodged a complaint. Northampton chairman Kelvin Thomas said " we have spoken to the EFL regarding some matters but probably more so about rules going forward "We certainly do not expect anything to change in the short term. I have congratulated the Bristol Rovers Chairman on their promotion "We are now totally focused on the playoffs against Mansfield
Rovers are third in the average league home attendances with 7,500 behind Bradford City 15,582 and Swindon Town 9449
Very impressive. We’ll take even more away next season - loads of derbies and much bigger stadiums to visit.
HT Melksham 0 Rovers 3 Aaron Collins 22nd min, Penalty 22nd minute converted by Jerry Lawrence, 37th minute Harvey Greenslade Tonights team 1st half Jaakkola, Hoole, EganConnolly, Clarke, Coutts, Lawrence, Finley, Greenslade, Collins, Vaughan. Changes have been made 2nd half but not yet printed James Gibbons 47th min 4 - 0 nothing more from Sam Frost at present
2nd half team Ward, Gibbons, Kilgour, Larvin, Heal, Jones, Wesrbrooke, Evans, Grant, Saunders, Loft 65th minute Ryan Jones 5 - 0 71st minute 1 - 5 85th minute Saunders 1 - 6 FT Melksham 1 - 6 Rovers
I really hope not he was supposed to be a good dead ball player but more often than not they either didn't clear the first defender or they went out of play
V Chippenham Jaakkola, Egan, Clarke, Heal, Jones, Coutts, Westbrooke, Lawrence, Saunders, Greenslade, Marquis Subs White, Phillips, McKayle, Pinchard, Perkins, Vaughan V Bath Belshaw, Hoole, Kilgour, Connoly, Gibbons, Grant, Finley, Anderson, Evans, Collins, Loft Subs Ward, Langlais, Larvin, Mason, Lynden, Allen.
Bath 2 Rovers 1,Loft for Rovers Fletcher 2 for Bath Chippenham 1 Rovers 3, Marquis2 Saunders1 Bath 3 - 1 Rovers 1 Chippenham 1 - 4 Marquis and Saunders 2 apiece Don't wish to be rude to Bath but to lose 3 - 1 in a friendly rather suggests we need reinforcements sooner rather than later. we only have Swansea and Stoke to play and then the season starts, not giving any new signings time to gel, it could be a long season with all the optimism evaporating
Todays matches v Swansea a 2 -1 defeat and a 1 - 1 draw, Rovers teams not given According to Rovers twitter we lost 3 - 2. I am now getting confused as to whether they are adding the two scores together and calling it one match or whether there were two games 2 games of 60 minutes each????
Reduced capacity for both the FGR match and Oxford - our first two home games. Due to the Safety Advisory Group imposing a reduced overall ground capacity because of the issues that we all know about during the last two home games of last season. After those two games we can apply to increase capacity to normal again. Bit of a bummer as they're both sell-out games. Club Statement - Reduced Capacity - News - Bristol Rovers
They used to be pretty hot on stopping people from standing in the gangways, so there must have been some issues with the stewarding, maybe fewer stewards etc.
Tonight's team V Stoke Belshaw, Hoole, Gibbons, Connolly, Clarke, Evans, Rossiter, Westbrooke, Anderson, Marquis, Collins Subs Jaakkola, Ward, Finley, Jones, Greenslade, Loft, Lawrence. Stoke line up Bursik, Flint, Jagielka, Fox, Sparrow, Kilkenny, Clucas, Laurent, Campbell, Wright-Phillips Subs Fielding, Wilmot, Jones, Tymon, Griffiths, Baker, Brown Taylor not i the squad for Stoke tonight, hopefully that means he is returning to the Rovers
From what I read and heard yesterday evening, we put in a very encouraging and impressive performance against Stoke City, that can only give confidence for our first season back in lge 1. Could just be that everyone is going to gel together just at the right time, and would be brilliant to start the campaign with a victory, for a change.
Looking pretty good for a decent start to the season for a change. Hope we get to 50 odd points in quick time, then kick on from there.
