JB v JB Sat 13th November

[west stand oap]

Bristol Rovers have seen an improvement in results recently, only 1 defeat in their last 5 league games and a creditable draw at Oxford in the FA Cup. They did go down 5-3 at Exeter last night in the pizza cup but made 11 changes and were 5-0 down at half time. Joey Barton apparently involved in an altercation after the game - surprise surprise.
Rovers home record is not good with 3 wins (Oldham 1-0, Crawley 1-0, Carlisle 3-0) and 4 defeats (Stevenage 0-2, Leyton Orient, Swindon and Newport County all 1-3) so in 7 games they have scored 8 goals and conceded 11.
We have come away with some points from over half of our games at Rovers and I see no reason why we cannot do so again on Saturday.

[Manwork04]

2-0 Gas.

[Coolcat]

2-0 Gas.

That was how it ended the last time I was up the Gloucester Road!

[Carton Lid]

We've had some dreadful results at the Gas in the last few years, let's hope this year is better

[Coolcat]

We've had some dreadful results at the Gas in the last few years, let's hope this year is better

Yes, despite the googling of the OP, one great win on the first day of the season at the Mem is pretty much all I can take away in recent seasons!
Rob Page's 'Men against girls' 6-0 defeat seems very much fresher in my mind!
Nevertheless, Bristol my favourite city in the UK for a day out...first time I think since the 98 playoffs, I'm not going!

[guest3063]

Yes, despite the googling of the OP, one great win on the first day of the season at the Mem is pretty much all I can take away in recent seasons!
Rob Page's 'Men against girls' 6-0 defeat seems very much fresher in my mind!
Nevertheless, Bristol my favourite city in the UK for a day out...first time I think since the 98 playoffs, I'm not going!

5-0 - don't make it even worse for us and Rob Page   

[Clint]

2-0 to the Cobbs …

[Coolcat]

5-0 - don't make it even worse for us and Rob Page   

Wasn't the home game 0-6? Was at that too but seem to have a problem with high scoring games!
The other is when I stayed over on the Tuesday night in Macclesfield...6-1 win?

[guest3063]

Wasn't the home game 0-6? Was at that too but seem to have a problem with high scoring games!
The other is when I stayed over on the Tuesday night in Macclesfield...6-1 win?

"Men against girls" comment by Page was an away game on 7th Jan 2017 - 5-0 defeat.

Later that year under JFH on 7th October 2017 we lost 6-0 at home.

Thank goodness we're not playing on the 7th this weekend.

[Clarity]

Bristol Rovers have seen an improvement in results recently, only 1 defeat in their last 5 league games and a creditable draw at Oxford in the FA Cup. They did go down 5-3 at Exeter last night in the pizza cup but made 11 changes and were 5-0 down at half time. Joey Barton apparently involved in an altercation after the game - surprise surprise.
Rovers home record is not good with 3 wins (Oldham 1-0, Crawley 1-0, Carlisle 3-0) and 4 defeats (Stevenage 0-2, Leyton Orient, Swindon and Newport County all 1-3) so in 7 games they have scored 8 goals and conceded 11.
We have come away with some points from over half of our games at Rovers and I see no reason why we cannot do so again on Saturday.

Good preview, and just about the right length to keep the readers interest

[GrangeParkCobbler]

Good preview, and just about the right length to keep the readers interest

Comments noted.... I will not do my usual pre-match preview now!!

[claretparrot]

Comments noted.... I will not do my usual pre-match preview now!!

I like them, for what it's worth

[Manwork04]

I like them, for what it's worth

Me too.

[guest3063]

I like them, for what it's worth

Yeah, keep them coming GPC. Always a good read.

[CobblerForever]

Live on IFollow - Video Pass.

[Winslow Lee]

Comments noted.... I will not do my usual pre-match preview now!!

That would be shame, I think they’re great and really appreciate the effort you put. I think the vast majority don’t have an issue being able to read more than one paragraph.

[St Edmundsbury Cobbler]

I like them, for what it's worth

Me too

[EB Claret]

Without one of GPC's previews it almost feels as though the game has been postponed.

[GrangeParkCobbler]

My comment was a bit tongue in cheek yesterday....fresh off a Trust Board meeting and pouring over the land condition report and proposed deal report I didn't have the time to do my research for the game......but now I do!!

So, its Bristol Rovers away next up for The Cobblers..... we sit nicely placed in 3rd place, whereas Rovers sit a lowly 16th. They have five wins in the league this season, three of them at home.

Rovers have never been in the top flight, a highest position of 6th place was achieved in the old Division 2 in both 1956 and 1959. More recently they were in League 1 in 2011, found themselves relegated to the Conference in 2014, bounced back at the first attempt and secured promotion again in their first season back in the League before suffering relegation last season after a 5 year spell in League 1.

The Gas are managed now by Joey Barton, he took over in February 2021 following Paul Tisdales short unsuccessful stint, Barton was unable to keep Rovers in League 1 and they were relegated alongside us, 10 points from safety in the end. Bartons spell in charge has seen him lose 23 of his 38 games at the helm, winning just nine games.
Going back to the mid 2000's, Kevan Broadhurst had a short caretaker spell in charge, he was followed by Ian Atkins who was in the chair for the best part of 18 months, and then he was replaced by Paul Trollope who spent over 5 years as manager there.

The evergreen Brett Pitman is their top scorer this season, he's bagged four league goals and is nearing the 200 goal mark in his career. Vastly experienced Glenn Whelan holds the midfield together, he made his 700th league appearance last time out and the only current Cobblers connection I can see in their squad is defender Mark Hughes who joined them from Accrington in the summer, but he picked up a training ground injury in September and has been out ever since. Hughes was with us between 2007 and 2009.

Rovers spent 99 years at Eastville before they left due to financial difficulties, The ground hosted football, speedway and greyhound racing. A gas holder was built next to the ground and the smell of the gas in the air gave the football club its nickname. An Ikea store now covers the site. Rovers were forced to groundshare with Bath City, spending a 10 year stint at Twerton Park before moving to current home the Memorial Stadium in 1996.

The two teams have met 104 times before, we just lead the head to head with 38 wins to 36. We have lost on 8 of our 16 visits to the Memorial, with four draws and four wins, the last of which came in 2015 thanks to a lone John-Joe O'Toole goal at the start of the 15/16 season. Since then we have lost twice and drawn one, we did suffer a 5-0 defeat there in January 2017 thanks to four goals from Ellis Harrison. The same player scored twice when they came to Sixfields the following season and trounced us 6-0. our last meeting there saw us fall to a 2-0 defeat with Joe Martin being sent off.

Sam Allison is due to be the ref for the game, in 14 games this season he has given out 56 yellows and five red cards including three in the Shrewsbury v Gillingham game back in August. We last saw Sam as a late replacement in our 3-1 defeat at Peterborough in April, we also saw him a month earlier when we lost 1-0 to Crewe at Sixfields and before that we had him at home to Charlton where again we lost, 2-0. Whilst we got to see him three times last season (his first as an EFL ref) Rovers had not had the pleasure of him in charge of a game involving them to date.

[west stand oap]

GPC you missed the most recent Cobblers connection which is Ali Koiki who was at Rovers last season but only made 10 appearances for them.
Obviously he has long gone but JJO'T played for both clubs.