Tomorrow night’s game between Bristol Rovers and Bolton Wanderers at The Memorial Stadium will be the 35th league meeting between the clubs.
Rovers have won 10 of the previous 34 meetings, Bolton 14 and there’s been 10 draws. In terms of goals then Bolton have the edge, with 48 to our 35.
The first league meetings between the clubs took place in 1971/72, by which time we had already met three times in the FA Cup. Those first league meetings saw Rovers win 2-0 at Eastville on 30th October 1971 thanks to goals by Brian Godfrey and Phil Roberts. The return fixture, at Burnden Park, on 19th February 1972 was goalless.
Last season it was honours even as goals from John Marquis and Antony Evans gave Rovers a 2-1 win at The Toughsheet Stadium on 16th December 2023 while Eoin Toal scored for Bolton who had Ricardo Santos red carded after only 33 minutes.
The return fixture at The Memorial Stadium on 6th April 2024 saw Bolton win 2-0 thanks to goals from former Rovers striker Aaron Collins and a 98th minute penalty converted by Aaron Morley.
While Rovers ended last season in 15th place on 57 points, Bolton finished in third place with 87 points, five points adrift of Derby County in the second automatic promotion place. They beat Barnsley 5-4 on aggregate in the play off semi final, but lost 2-0 to Oxford United in the Wembley play off final.
There are a couple of tenuous managerial/staffing links between the clubs that take in Martin Dobson and Ali Gibb. Dobson began his career with Bolton but was released without appearing in a league game for them and it was with Burnley and Everton that he enjoyed success as a player. He won England caps under three different managers, namely Sir Alf Ramsey, Joe Mercer and Don Revie.
He succeeded Gerry Francis as Rovers manager in the summer of 1991 but saw only one win in his 11 match reign as boss and parted ways with the club on 4th October that year.
Gibb, who made a goalscoring debut for Rovers, against York City in March 2004, went on to appear in 64 league games for Rovers and is now Senior Academy Physiotherapist at Bolton.
Tom Eaves, Mark Little, Trevor Morgan, Erhan Oztumer, Victor Adeboyejo and Aaron Collins have all turned out for both clubs while Vaughan Jones, Mark O’Connor and Marcus Browning made their Rovers league debut against tomorrow’s visitors,.
Bolton’s 2-0 win at The Mem last season meant that Rovers created a new club record of going 600 minutes without scoring a league goal. Aaron Collins was making his first return to The Mem following his transfer to Bolton in the January window and on the back of an Easter Monday hat trick against Reading so it was inevitable, I suppose, that he should open the scoring in this game when he collected the ball to the right of goal and chipped it over goalkeeper Jed Ward.
Bolton changed managers in January, parting company with manager Ian Evatt, who had been in charge since July 2020 and appointing former Plymouth Argyle and Stoke City boss Steven Schumacher, with former Rovers defender Mark Hughes as his assistant.
While Rovers were beating Huddersfield last Saturday, Bolton were 2-1 winners at Burton Albion, a result that saw them replace Huddersfield in the final play off place. They have 60 points from 35 games and won eight of the 17 away fixtures. In addition they are top of the current League One form table, having won five and drawn one of their last six games.
Rovers still occupy 20th place in the league standings, with 39 points from 20 games. We have won eight of our 17 home games and our last six games has seen two wins, a draw and three defeats.
Saturday’s performance, and result, though, was encouraging and the atmosphere at The Mem possibly the best of the season. The game against another of the promotion contenders is definitely one to look forward to and a win will open up a nine point gap between ourselves an the Burton Albion, the side immediately below us in the league.
Here’s hoping that Ruel Sotiriou can keep up his recent goalscoring record at The Mem; and make it five goals in his last seven home games.
Enjoy the match!