Sunderland v Bristol Rovers – Skybet League One Last time out Sunderland beat Oxford and Bristol Rovers beat Blackpool. Centre-back Jordan Willis scored the only goal of the game as Sunderland, who remain fifth in the table, cut the gap on leaders Rotherham United to just three points. Bailey Wright is set for an extended spell on the sidelines with Phil Parkinson admitting that the early signs ‘do not look good’ after the defender went off with an ankle injury at Oxford United. January signing Wright limped off after suffering ankle ligament damage five minutes from the end of the Black Cats’ 1-0 win at the Kassam Stadium, with Alim Ozturk replacing him to help the Wearsiders to keep a seventh clean sheet in eight games and keep the pressure on at the top of League One. The Gas, who have struggled of late after a good start to the season, now find themselves mid table and 11 points off a playoff place. Phil Parkinson: “It doesn’t look good, that’s all I can say,” said Parkinson of Wright’s injury. “Obviously it’s a bit early (to make an assessment) but it looks like quite a bad injury, which is a blow, but Alim has come on and done well.” “Bailey has been excellent for us, but if he is out for a period, Alim comes in and there’s no problem with that at all.” “Alim has a great personality, he is a great lad, and while he has been out of the team he has trained well and that’s really important.” “We have gone with the same team for quite a period of time now and sometimes it can be difficult to keep those other lads going, but as I keep saying, they have been outstanding and they have driven the other lads on.” Ben Garner: “Well done, enjoy it, but then focus on Sunderland. We spoke before the game about focusing on the present and not what’s gone before or what’s coming.” “So they can enjoy that, I’m absolutely over the moon for them, and then we turn our focus very quickly to Sunderland.” “It’s the first time that I had to lose my temper at half time because we didn’t do things well in the first half, even basic things, corners and throw ins that we’d worked on, the players didn’t do their jobs within those set pieces and we can’t do that.” “We’ve got to be spot on with everything we do. It’s ironic that the game that we’ve got the win in, was probably the game that we’ve got the most to correct, but we will do that this week, and as I say, moving onto Sunderland, we try and push on with another result.” Prutton predicts: meh Match Appointments: Referee: BEN TONER Assistant Referees: Richard Wigglesworth and Robert Atkin Fourth Official: Stephen Wade Team Line ups Sunderland: McLaughlin, O’Nien, Flanagan, Ozturk, Willis, Hume, Power, Dobson, Gooch, Maguire, Wyke. Subs: Burge, McLaughlin, Scowen, Lynch, Watmore, Semenyo, Lafferty. Injured: Embleton, Wright Bristol Rovers: Blackman, Little, Kilgour, Craig, Leahy, Clarke, Upson, Ogogo, Rodman, Clarke-Harris, Mitchell-Lawson Subs: van Stappershoef, Holmes-Dennis, Ginnelly, Menayese, Abraham, Hargreaves, Barrett. Injured: Sercombe Betting Odds: Home 1/2 Away 5/1 Draw 3/1 My two pence: After a tough game at Oxford hopefully we should be in for an easier game where we are coasting before half time. Rovers won their first game in 14 matches last week against 10 man Blackpool, but we should have enough to beat them. My guess is a 3-0 home win Ha’way the Lads
Thanks RTB. As an exile these threads properly keep me in the loop. Loving the new found consistency and professionalism, amazing this has come since "the best player in the league was dropped!" Henderson is proof that there's more to a job than innate talent, how you approach it and work hard is the key, and some lads in this team should be very proud of how they're doing at the moment as a result of their effort. Excellent to see and cannot be taken for granted (see circa 100 other players we have had in the last 10 years or so who couldn't be arsed but were better footballers!).
Can't see Parky letting any complacency creep in, so a comfortable 3-0 win and the table looking even better at the final whistle is my hope for Saturday. OaU.
Should be a relatively comfortable win. Plus Fleetwood and/or Portsmouth and Ipswich and/or Oxford must drop points. Then if we can stick one up Joey Barton on Tuesday, Coventry and/or Rotherham must drop points. With Peterborough not playing either day and Wycombe only playing on Saturday, win twice and we could easily be top two.
No prediction from me again. Back to work on Saturday so will be pinning the score on me phone and hoping for that win and some results elsewhere going our way.
On paper it should be a comfy enough win, and I agree, with another clean sheet!! 3-0 to me Bonny Lads!! Bart
3-0 (Wyke, Lafferty, Gooch) I do think that these games now Grigg needs to be named on the bench as Wright is out for the season. I'd love us to be 2 or 3 nil up and him to try Lafferty/Grigg up front.
Great OP as usual thanks... We have to win.... of about 8 teams at the top of the league...anyone dropping points is in trouble. One game at a time... Defence may be a little weaker as we will miss Wright injured... also somebody needs to discover a scoring touch for this run in... 2-1 to us