Fleetwood Town
Tomorrow Bristol Rovers take on Fleetwood Town for the 19th time and the 10th time at Highbury Stadium where our record is two wins, four defeats and three draws, scoring seven goals and conceding nine.
This will be the first time since 2023/24 that the sides have met and during that season Fleetwood were 2-0 winners at The Mem while the game at Highbury Stadium ended goalless.
Although the clubs only met for the first time in 2012/13, there are a number of connections between the sides; for starters, both have had Joe Barton as their manager. He was in charge at Highbury Stadium from April 2018 until January 2021. He managed Rovers from February 2021 until last October 2023.
Barton was succeeded, in a caretaker capacity, by first team coach Andy Mangan who scored 24 goals in 53 league appearances for Fleetwood between June 2011 and May 2013. He later returned to Highbury Stadium working, initially, as a youth team coach before taking on first team coaching responsibilities. Mangan recently took up a coaching role in Brazil, with Botafogo.
Eddy Jennings, who was Head of Football Operations under Barton at Rovers, was formerly Director of Football at Fleetwood.
Players who have appeared for both clubs include Cian Bolger, Junior Brown, Paul Coutts, Lyle Della-Verde, Alex Jakubiak, Jeff Hughes, Tom Hitchcock, Ellis Harrison, Bob Harris, Steven Gillespie, Sam Finley, Jordan Rossiter, Harvey Saunders and Lee Thorpe.
Harrison, who has just returned to Rovers, pitched up at Fleetwood in January 2022 via spells at Ipswich Town and Portsmouth and appeared in 20 league games for them.
Currently Youth Development Coach just down the road from Fleetwood, at Blackpool, Thorpe scored four goals in 35 Rovers league games and three in 28 Fleetwood games.
Rovers’ players who have made their debut against Fleetwood include Neil Etheridge and Tom Lockyer (2012/13), Joe Partington (2016/17), Jamal Blackman (2019/20) and Ben Liddle (2020/21).
Liddle was the 953rd player, and the last to date, to make his Rovers debut against Fleetwood.
It’s a long time since we recorded a win on the road (4th January against Cambridge) and so an away win is long overdue.
Speaking to the club’s media team, Head Coach Darrell Clarke had this to say ahead of the game; ‘We will have to be flexible, and we’ll have to be adaptable. That’s not a problem. I want an adaptable squad. We’re working a lot of things out, my coaching staff and I, about the players and the systems. The mentality of the group is key, making sure the mentality is absolutely spot on because if that’s not right, the tactics don’t come into play, to be honest with you.
‘It’s about responding every week and every game. There are no quick fixes around here. There are a lot of changes, but something I need to consistently see is the improvement of performances and also mentality improving as we go along the way.’
It remains to be seen if Darrell will hand a debut to new signing Fabrizio Cavegn, but we do know that Shaq Forde has been ruled out for up to 12 weeks with a hamstring injury.
Fleetwood were 2-0 winners at newly promoted Barnet last weekend and their manager Pete Wild said this about Rovers; ‘They’ve signed really well. They’re a team with some top players, and they’ll be right up there at the end of the season.
‘If you look at last weekend’s game against Harrogate, Harrogate had one shot and scored from it, Bristol controlled the game. We’re going to have to be solid defensively, and make sure when we have the ball we cause them threats and problems. We have to be solid at both ends of the pitch. It’ll be a great game.’
It’s a long trip for Gasheads, but we wish all those who are travelling a safe journey there and back.
