npower League Two: Rochdale v Bristol Rovers
Spotland, November 17th 2012, 3pm kick-off
Rochdale welcome Bristol Rovers to Spotland this Saturday as John Coleman’s side return to league action following Tuesday night’s FA Cup exit to Morecambe.
This weekend’s visitors currently sit 20th in the division on 17 points and have notched up one win, three draws and three league defeats on the road so far this season.
The Pirates head into the encounter on the back of a 3-2 league win over Chesterfield last weekend, while Dale will be looking to improve on the midweek defeat to Morecambe.
John Coleman will have Bobby Grant and Ryan Edwards at his disposal as they return after serving one match bans, while Terry Gornell is available for selection after missing out on Tuesday night’s FA Cup clash due to being ineligible for the tie. Bristol Rovers will be without the suspended Matty Lund for the fixture.
Assistant Manager Jimmy Bell has been reflecting on the defeat to Morecambe, and ahead to this weekend’s encounter against Mark McGhee’s Pirates.
“Tuesday night was very disappointing,” said Bell. "The level of performance wasn’t good enough and it will live long in the memory because of that. But that’s gone now and we’ve got to look forward. We’ve had a lot of meetings with the players since it happened and we know where we’ve got to go, we know where we’ve got to improve and we’ve got to certainly improve at home. We need the backing of the fans and we can only get that if we start performing at home and that hasn’t been the case. We are aware of that and the fact that we are not showing our full potential at home is killing me and John. Hopefully they’ll see a different animal on Saturday.”
And Bell welcomes the return of Grant: “Bobby has come in and has been a breath of fresh air. His goal scoring, his attitude and his will to win will bring a lot to us on Saturday.”
Match officials
Referee – Scott Duncan
Assistant referees – Paul Hodskinson and Michael Salisbury
Fourth official – Simeon Lucas