Boz
Member
- Joined
- 30 Sep 2005
- Messages
- 8,942
- Player
- Iain Hume
Tough game up next for Rovers. We had an impressive win at their place earlier in the season, but also won, albeit slightly less comfortably at Cheltenham, yet lost and were second best in the home fixture. There certainly shouldn't be any complacency about this match.
The other Rovers are in decent form, recent home defeat by Grimsby aside. They still believe that they can overtake the Robins for automatic promotion and with their Gloucestershire rivals having a tricky trip to Braintree, are going to be determined to take advantage of any slip-up.
Have to be honest,I'm unfamiliar with a lot of the FGR side. Names that do register are Jon Parkin, big forward with an impressive strike rate throughout his career, though he doesn't seem a guaranteed starter atm. Darren Carter, who begun his career at Birmingham and Eliott Frear, who tore us apart when a youngster at Exeter.
Rovers have one or two knocks,but Brabin hopes to have a full squad to choose from. With midweek results largely going against us, it's a game which we ideally need to win and start the game in a similar positive vein to the Gateshead clash. Team selection is interesting. After a clean sheet at Dover, the defence should be unchanged. On remarks he's made, it wouldn't surprise me to see a side similar to that which finished at Dover selected by Brabin, with Harris and Maynard starting, particularly if Higdon is deemed unfit. Personally, I would rather a 442 or 4411 selection than pack the midfield and would like to see Margetts as an option on the bench. Norwood featuring against his old club will be interesting, at the New Lawn he managed to score and avoid getting sent off, let's hope he can repeat the process.
Prediction: The visitors aren't likely to bring more than about 50-60 travelling fans. The crowd slumped for Gateshead to ~4.6k and I can't see any reason for it to increase significantly for this game. As for the result, the other Rovers have a habit of nicking late goals, so unless we get into them early and get on top, can see us dropping points here.
The other Rovers are in decent form, recent home defeat by Grimsby aside. They still believe that they can overtake the Robins for automatic promotion and with their Gloucestershire rivals having a tricky trip to Braintree, are going to be determined to take advantage of any slip-up.
Have to be honest,I'm unfamiliar with a lot of the FGR side. Names that do register are Jon Parkin, big forward with an impressive strike rate throughout his career, though he doesn't seem a guaranteed starter atm. Darren Carter, who begun his career at Birmingham and Eliott Frear, who tore us apart when a youngster at Exeter.
Rovers have one or two knocks,but Brabin hopes to have a full squad to choose from. With midweek results largely going against us, it's a game which we ideally need to win and start the game in a similar positive vein to the Gateshead clash. Team selection is interesting. After a clean sheet at Dover, the defence should be unchanged. On remarks he's made, it wouldn't surprise me to see a side similar to that which finished at Dover selected by Brabin, with Harris and Maynard starting, particularly if Higdon is deemed unfit. Personally, I would rather a 442 or 4411 selection than pack the midfield and would like to see Margetts as an option on the bench. Norwood featuring against his old club will be interesting, at the New Lawn he managed to score and avoid getting sent off, let's hope he can repeat the process.
Prediction: The visitors aren't likely to bring more than about 50-60 travelling fans. The crowd slumped for Gateshead to ~4.6k and I can't see any reason for it to increase significantly for this game. As for the result, the other Rovers have a habit of nicking late goals, so unless we get into them early and get on top, can see us dropping points here.