By Simon Gray
Darrell Clarke’s Bristol Rovers will be looking to bounce back from Good Friday’s away defeat at Gillingham when they entertain 17th place Oldham Athletic at the Memorial Stadium.
The Gas have not lost at home since November and will want to finish the season strongly despite the play offs being all but out of the question.
Rovers’ disappointing result at Gillingham may have ended their play off hopes but manager Darrell Clarke has insisted that they can be proud of their efforts this term.
“We should be proud of our achievement this season, it’s no mean feat. We have to decide as a football club what we want to do, we cannot keep overachieving every year,” Clarke told the Bristol Post.
“I’ve got to sit down and make sure that we keep moving forward. I think I said three years ago that this club should be competing in the top half of League One.
“Now we need to take it forward, things need to move quickly.”
Clarke will potentially reshuffle the pack after Friday’s defeat. Defender Danny Leadbitter and striker Rory Gaffney are both out of the match through injury but could return for the penultimate game of the season next weekend at Peterborough.
Oldham visit the South West also in good form having lost just once in their previous seven games.
Oldham’s win over local rivals Bolton on Saturday also opened the gap between them and the relegation zone to six points, although Port Vale do have a game in hand.
Manager John Sheridan will have Chris Taylor back after he was ineligible for the win over Bolton but defender Rob Hunt will miss the rest of the season with a groin injury. Striker Michael Ngoo will miss the match through suspension.
Stats
The last meeting between the two sides ended in a 2-0 win for Rovers.
The last fixture between the sides at the Memorial Stadium ended in a 1-0 Rovers win thanks to a goal from Rene Howe.
This will be the 58th meeting between the two sides, Rovers have won 24, Oldham have won 19 and there have been 14 draws from the previous 57 encounters.
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