SALFORD CITY AT THE MEM
Tomorrow afternoon Salford City visit The Memorial Stadium to take on Bristol Rovers in what will be only the third league meeting between the sides.
The previous meetings took place in 2021/22 when the sides played out a 1-1 draw at Salford’s Peninsula Stadium while Rovers were 1-0 winners in the return fixture at The Mem.
Jack Baldwin, Matt Butcher, Paul Couts, Rory Gaffney and Matty Lund have all played for both clubs and Butcher is likely to be facing us tomorrow. Released by Wycombe after spending the second half of last season
on loan at The Mem, he joined Salford in the summer.
Coutts was sent off on his Rovers debut, against Mansfield Town, in the summer of 2021 and, oddly enough, was sent off again last Saturday when playing for Inverurie against Keith.
Lund arrived at Rovers, on loan from Stoke City, on 30th January 2012 until the end of the 2011/12 season and returned for a second loan spell at the beginning of the following campaign. He was released by Salford at the end of last season following a stint as player/coach.
Salford Head Coach Karl Robinson is no stranger to Rovers fans, having taken charge of MK Dons, Charlton Athletic and Oxford United against us in the not too distant past. In fact, his last game at Oxford turned out to be a 3-0 defeat by Rovers at The Kassam Stadium on 25th February 2023. He was appointed Head Coach of Salford in January 2024.
Rovers face a stern test tomorrow as Salford are currently in second place in the League Two table, with 18 points from their nine league games to date., while Rovers, currently unbeaten in their last six league games can be found in tenth place just five points adrift of tomorrow’s opponents. Last Saturday goalkeeper Luke Southwood put in a Man of the Match performance to preserve a point for us at Colchester and he and his teammates will need to be at their best tomorrow.
Speaking to the club’s official website about the game, Head Coach Darrell Clarke said; ‘Salford are scoring a lot of goals. They have started the season really, really, well. Karl Robinson is obviously an experienced manager and has been there for a decent amount of time and has a more settled group now.
‘We know it is going to be a tough game, but with The Mem, we’re back home and looking forward to it. I think the crowd will be well up for the game; we certainly will be. Only one fifth of the season is gone, but it looks like a big game on paper on Saturday, so let’s make it into that.
‘I’ll be looking to see how my team answers those questions come Saturday. The team that is coming are in form and we’re in form, so hopefully it sets up to be a decent match.’
Clarke’s side will be looking to extend their unbeaten run, though it’s not going to be an easy task. The backing of a large crowd could make all the difference for what is probably Rovers’ toughest game so far this season.