Bristol Rovers Vs Northampton Town, Memorial Stadium, Sky Bet League 2, Saturday August 8th 2015, Kick Off 3:00pm Cobblers Info: http://www.not606.com/threads/a-guide-to-sky-bet-league-2-2015-2016-season.302580/#post-8013091 All the news and build up to Saturdays game will appear on this thread. Don't forget to vote on the poll as usual it closes on Friday at 3:35 PM. My predictions: The Gas 0 - 2 Northampton Town - I'm still worried by the lack of depth in are squad the home friendlies and the Cheltenham game at Wadden Road has proven we're are still majorly lacking up front and are defence is a bit on the leaky side this game is also the first in league football for many of our players and its going to get some getting use to. My heart says we can scrape a draw but my head says 2-0 Cobblers.
We will win. Momentum will carry us through. Easter will score 3 on Saturday and O'Toole will get sent off after 15 minutes! 4-1 gas
I'm not even sure if O'Toole will feature, but I think we have a good chance of winning. Northampton IMO don't look that strong compared to several of the other teams in League Two, and we have a very good recent record against them at the Mem - 5 wins and 2 draws in the last 7 meetings.
What is the team going to be on Saturday? My guess... -----------------Mildenhall--------------- Leadbitter--Lockyer--Parkes--Brown Bodin----Mansell----Lines----Montano -------------Easter-----Taylor------------- Subs... Preston J Clarke Greenslade O Clarke Sinclair Harrison Blissett
------------------Mildenhall--------------------- Leadbitter J Clarke Parkes Lockyer Monkana Lines Mansell Montano ---------Harrison Easter If Brown is fit then then lockyer instead of Clarke at CB
I would have James Clarke at RB with Leadbitter at RM instead of Bodin. Apart from that I agree with CJS.
Ledbitter's a wing back or right back. I think Clarke will partner Parkes, like he has in pre season.Bodin will probably start ahead of the new guy from Brighton.But there are lots of pretty good options. In DC we trust...
Darrell Clarke will take charge of his first game back as a Football League manager this weekend as his side entertain Northampton Town at the Memorial Stadium and the Rovers boss told us his side is raring to go. "Our pre-season program worked well and the lads are looking really fit, I was really pleased with the fitness levels showed against West Brom last week. "The lads have probably been ready to kick things off for a few weeks now and it is nice to get those last few pre-season games out of the way so we can fully concentrate on League Two." Some members of Rovers squad will be making their Football League debut this weekend but Darrell insists that won't be an issue for his players. "We are faced with challenges like this all the time but we won't be letting our lads use that as an excuse. We want to stay strong as a group and show that we have that mental strength that we showed last season. "At the end of the day, it's 11 men vs 11 men and the team that works hardest usually walks away with the three points. After a solid end to the 2014/15 season and a summer of strengthening, Chris Wilder's Cobblers are tipped by many to be near the top of the table in May and Darrell is calling on the same fighting spirit that helped his side out of the Vanarama Conference last season. "They [Northampton] finished last season well but you just don't know with these things. There will be certain teams that will be fancied to be up there but we will see how things are after the 46 games. "My aim is to be part of that group of teams at the top of the division fighting away for promotion and it is vitally important that over the first 10 league games we pick up as many points as possible and that starts with Northampton this Saturday. "If we don't have the best start like last season you have to show what your made of and come through that. Throughout the season there will be different challenges for everyone but it is about staying strong as a group."
Matty Taylor is relishing the challenge of stepping up a level as he prepares to make his long-awaited Football League debut this weekend. Taylor is one of a handful of Football League first-timers who will get the chance to show what they can do in League Two after helping Rovers win promotion out of the Vanarama Conference at the first time of asking last season. The striker, 25, is expected to lead the line against Northampton Town when Rovers open their League Two season at the Memorial Stadium tomorrow, but he admits that he thought his chances of ever playing in the Football League had vanished when he was released by Oxford United as a youngster in 2009. “I didn’t think this chance would ever come again when I was released by Oxford,” said Taylor, who plundered 20 goals on the way to a dramatic Promotion Final penalty shoot-out against Grimsby Town in May. “I dropped into the Southern League to join North Leigh so playing in the Football League was something I wasn’t even thinking about. “Every kid wants to play in the Football League, but it only became a realistic target again when I returned to full-time football at Forest Green. “It has taken me until now to get this chance and I am confident of my abilities to do well at this level. I’ve earned the right to be here so I don’t feel I have a point to prove to anybody. “From talking to the lads who have played at both levels I have been told that there is not too much difference in the levels. Obviously there will be better players and there won’t be any part-time teams but for me it is just a game of football and you just have to go out there and be the best that you can be regardless of who you are playing.” Rovers start the season around 7/2 with selected bookmakers to fulfil manager Darrell Clarke’s aim of finishing in the top seven, and Taylor added: “I don’t think anybody should be at this football club if they are just happy to stand still or just happy to be here. It is about testing yourself and trying to win as many football games as you can. “What is in the past is in the past. We have returned after the summer with a clean slate and we all know that earning a shirt is all about what we do in the future and not about what we have done in the past.” “We’re all excited and we can’t wait to get started on Saturday. We obviously didn’t get the results we’d have liked in pre-season, but it is not all about that before you start the competitive stuff. We had difficult games in the shape of Premier League and Championship opposition and we won’t be playing sides of that ilk every week. We did take a lot of positives from those games and the important thing is we have got all of our physical work done and are ready to try and get the right result on Saturday. “From what I have heard about Northampton, they will be tough opponents and are fancied to be right up there this season. We’ll approach the game in the same way as we do any other because that approach has served us well in the past.”
