Bolton Wanderers visit the Memorial Stadium on Saturday for what will be their 35th league meeting against Bristol Rovers.
Rovers have won 10 of the previous 34 meetings, Bolton 14 and 10 games have finished all square. In terms of goals, then Bolton have the edge, with 48 to our 35.
The first league meetings between the sides took place in 1971/72 with Rovers winning 2-0 at Eastville on 30th October 1971 while the return fixture, at Burnden Park on 15th February 1972 was a goalless affair.
Last season it was honours even, as Rovers were 2-1 winners at the Toughsheet Stadium on 18th December 2023 when Ricardo Santos picked up a first half red card. Bolton won the return fixture at The Mem on 6th April this year. The final score was 2-0 in their favour and former Rovers striker Aaron Collins scored their first goal.
Bolton finished last season in third place and were 5-4 aggregate winners in the play off semi final against Barnsley, but lost 2-0 to Oxford United in the Wembley Final.
Players to have turned out for both clubs post war include Tom Eaves (who was sent off playing for Northampton on Tuesday), Mark Little, Trevor Morgan, Erhan Oztumer and current Bolton duo Victor Adeboyejo and the aforementioned Collins.
Players to have made their Rovers league debut against Bolton are Vaughan Jones, Mark O’Connor and Marcus Browning.
There’s been three FA Cup meetings between the clubs, the first two when Rovers were a Southern League club, in 1904/05. Following a 1-1 draw at Bolton, the Wanderers were 3-0 winners in the Eastville replay.
One of Rovers finest FA Cup performances came against Bolton in a Fourth Round tie at Burnden Park in January 1969 when two Wayne Jones goals gave Third Division Rovers a 2-1 win against 
Second Division Bolton.
Bolton were, of course, one of the 12 Founder members of the Football League in 1888 and since that time 28 Bolton players have been selected for England whilst on their books, with striker Nat Lofthouse and goalkeeper Eddie Hopkinson probably being the two most popular players in that group.
In last year’s home fixture against Bolton, Rovers created a new club record of going 600 minutes without scoring a league goal. It’s not a record we would like to see beaten, though it’s now 221 minutes since Luke McCormick’s goal at Mansfield and if we are counting all competitions then there’s last weekend’s 120 minutes at Barnsley which sees the total jump up to 341!
On Tuesday evening, while we were struggling against Orient, Bolton were beating Mansfield 3-1 and so they are now up to seventh place in the league with 30 points from 17 games. Rovers, meanwhile, are in 16th place with 21 points from 17 games.
On Saturday we welcome back manager Matt Taylor following his recent time off due to a family emergency.
As for his players, they surely must be aware of the fact that a strong performance is needed in front of their own supporters after the awful midweek display at Brisbane Road.
We need leaders out on the pitch, passion and desire from all of those selected and three points wouldn’t go amiss, either!
The Bolton game is the first of a trio of games against sides expected to be in the promotion shakeup at the end of the season. Next up are Birmingham and Wrexham; games to look forward to and games in which our support will prove to be crucial.