Bristol Rovers manager Joey Barton admits he’d rather not be playing in the Papa John’s Trophy tonight as he places the majority of his focus on the league campaign, managing his resources and fitness levels for the next 40 matches of the domestic campaign.
Rovers travel to Plymouth Argyle in their first group game of the EFL Trophy, which continues to be met by apathy, bordering on anger, among fanbases across the country following the introduction of Premier League youth sides into the competition in 2016/17.
The tie arrives just three days after Rovers’ League One contest against Shrewsbury Town, with Saturday’s visit of Morecambe on the horizon. Barton has a number of first-team players he’d rather give the night off to allow them to recuperate in time for the weekend plus Rovers’ lack of a Under-21 set-up means he doesn’t have an abundance of options below the first-team to select from.
