For a Bristol Rovers team that have conceded nine goals across a three-game losing streak, the thought of a homegrown defender thriving elsewhere is a difficult thing to digest. No doubt Gasheads glanced frustratedly at their phones on Saturday after the defeat to MK Dons and noticed Alfie Kilgour had scored again for Mansfield Town.
In two starts since leaving the Mem for Field Mill last month, centre-back Alfie Kilgour has scored two fine – and crucial – goals and earned rave reviews for his displays at the heart of Nigel Clough's back three. It is no more than the 24-year-old deserves after a challenging end to his time with his boyhood club.
For so long, it appeared Kilgour was on course to be a first-team pillar for a decade after so impressively emerging from the academy, cementing his place as a crucial player in Graham Coughlan's team in 2019/20. At that time, any doubt about his Rovers future stemmed from the possibility of him being snapped up by teams at a higher level, rather than drifting out of contention.
