By Monika Parnarauskaite
For the first time since 2011, Bristol Rovers will face Charlton Athletic in their League One match at the Memorial Stadium.
This season’s top-scorer, Matty Taylor, will play despite receiving his fifth yellow card of the season, as one of those was in an EFL Trophy match, which is excluded from the count.
Winger Ricky Holmes will miss out once again as he continues his recovery for a foot injury he picked up against Scunthorpe a couple of months ago.
Bristol Rovers aren’t the only ones with injury issues as defender Chris Solly is still suffering from knee problems.
The last home match for the Rovers didn’t go to plan as a late save by MK Dons goalkeeper David Martin meant it ended goalless.
Speaking to the bristolrovers.co.uk, assistant manager Marcus Stewart said: “We are in a good place at the moment. We are on par with some massive clubs, which have come from a Premier League pedigree, so let’s keep on riding the crest of the wave [and] keep aiming to do the right things.”
On the other hand, the Addicks had a much better game last time out. After taking the lead in the first 30 minutes courtesy of Josh Magennis’ beautifully delivered header, Nicky Ajose then made it 2-0 less than a minute before half time.
That was the fifth victory of the season for Charlton Athletic, which saw the team move up in the league to 14th place, not far behind Rovers in 8th.
Coming into this game, it was confirmed by the team on Twitter, that Kevin Nugent will continue his role as the caretaker boss after Russell Slade was sacked last week.
The last time these two teams came face-to-face, Rovers drew 2-2 against the Addicks, but Morgan Fox is keen that his team can turn another draw into a win as he spoke to cafc.co.uk: “It’ll be a tough game. We’re coming off the back of a good result and we need to build on it.”