It was a night of mixed fortunes for Bristol Rovers on Tuesday. With Joey Barton's squad split in two, they won and lost simultaneously in friendlies at Chippenham Town and Bath City.
The group that travelled to Bath's Twerton Park started brightly and led through Ryan Loft's ruthless finish, but it proved to be a disappointing night in gruelling conditions with the sixth-tier Romans claiming a deserved 3-1 victory.
It was a more pleasant evening for the team that headed to Wiltshire, with John Marquis getting off the mark with a poacher's brace at Hardenhuish Park, while Harvey Saunders did his prospects no harm with a superb performance on the left flank that was crowned by two goals for himself.
Barton, who stationed himself at Twerton for the evening, was understandably disappointed by a sub-par performance against National League South opponents, and for all the momentum Rovers have amassed in recent months the manager made clear he was under no illusion about the work he needs to do on and off the training pitch ahead of the start of the season.
Miles in the legs
While it was not an ideal solution, Rovers were able to shift their preparation for the opening day up a gear on Tuesday with the squad split across the two games. With the opening day little more than a fortnight away, the manager would have been keen to have his group together to help develop the chemistry of his squad.
And with a couple of injury absentees to boot, the squads were left on the thin side with first and second-year scholars filling the benches.
But at this stage, it is fitness that is the absolute priority, and Tuesday's arrangements were helpful in that regard. At Bath, the starting XI completed the full 90 minutes on a sapping, humid evening in North East Somerset, with the unenviable task of chasing up and down the Twerton slope all evening.
At Chippenham, the game settled into a steadier pace with the Gas three goals to the good in the second half. For the majority, it was a valuable 90-minute workout. Marquis was forced off at the break with a knock and there were a few late subs, meaning most players got miles in their legs before a step up in standard against Championship sides Swansea City and Stoke City in the coming days.
With the squad reunited for those games, the tactical side of Rovers' preparation will come into focus as the pre-season grind nears its end.
Marquis off the mark
Like last summer, Rovers' new striker got off and running with a pre-season double. Marquis will hope for a more lasting impact than his predecessor Brett Pitman, but it was a solid start for the 30-year-old in Gas colours.
Playing with the No9 shirt on his back at Chippenham Town, a number of supporters were still taking their positions as he put the Gas 1-0 up; Harvey Saunders darting down the left and drilling in a low cross to leave the former Portsmouth striker with a regulation tap-in.
His second arrived in near-identical circumstances and while, yes, they were "easy" goals to score in terms of their execution, they gave a flavour of the type of striker Marquis is, and what he can be for Rovers. On the ball, he's not going to be the hold-up targetman some have erroneously typecast him as. Where he'll likely flourish will be as a penalty box poacher, alive to everything and giving the Gas' more creative players something to look for each time they advance.
Barton does want to enhance his game, and draw more out of the forward than his previous managers have done - it's something the Rovers boss always backs himself to do, but Marquis should fundamentally bring more presence to the final third, particularly on second balls, than the Gas had last season.
Understandably, given his delayed pre-season, his fitness isn't as sharp as others and there were a few occasions when a touch went astray or he was a little slow to make a challenge, but the effort was very much there. Albeit a little too much at times as there were two occasions where he slightly kicked out at opposition players in frustration as they came away in possession.
His substitution at half-time, having finished the first 45 minutes on the deck receiving treatment, raised concern but the 30-year-old revealed at full-time it was simply a dead leg and with his comparative lack of minutes and the time for his body to adapt to playing matches, it just made sense not to risk him in the second half.
Staking a claim as Barton eyes transfers
Marquis also joked that as regulation as his finishes were, the real challenge was having to keep up with Harvey Saunders in order to get himself into position to score, such was the pace at which the Gas forward attacked the Chippenham defence.
The 24-year-old was, quite simply, lightning, steaming past his full-back with ease and then showing the presence of mind to set-up a teammate or then go for goal himself. He also won a number of free-kicks where he was just too fast for the opposition to do anything but bring him down.
But beyond just raw speed - which will trouble any semi-professional team as players at that level have decreasingly less athleticism than their EFL contemporaries, for a number of reasons - Saunders' eagerness to do something impactful, every time he got on the ball was immensely impressive.
His two finishes where also very different; the first hit at speed as he sprinted beyond the defence, finding the far corner from a tight-ish angle. The second was more of a delicate flick around the goalkeeper after Harvey Greenslade had picked him out with a smart inside pass.
Saunders suffered last season as injuries took him out of contention and the presence of the departed Elliot Anderson, Sam Nicholson and Luke Thomas prevented him from winning his place back by the end of a campaign which had started brightly. He has started pre-season with impressive intent as he battles for a place in the pecking order.
At Twerton, Loft – another man who needs a good pre-season after a slow start since his January move from Scunthorpe United – got his account up and running for pre-season, which will be a boost to his confidence as he fights for his place in Barton's plans.
Marquis is sure to start the season as a nailed-on starter and Aaron Collins can also be assured of a starting role after last season's heroics, leaving Loft to fight for a supporting role for the time being. Saunders' brace – which made it three pre-season goals so far for the ex-Fleetwood Town striker – is an indication of the determination he is playing with this summer and demonstrates the competition for places in attack.
And with Barton indicating he wants up to three additions to his frontline in the remainder of the transfer window, some players are going to miss out, heightening the importance of the final two friendlies for the men on the fringes of the squad.
Loft made a strong start at Twerton and we are getting a clearer picture of what he is capable of. He possesses power, both in his right boot and when he tussles with defenders, and his nuisance factor can make things messy for the defence and bring his teammates into the game.
But there are elements of his game that need refining and Barton's comments at full time confirmed no player has unlimited chances to stake their claim to be in his plans.
In defence, there is competition too. On the right, it is a contest between last season's breakout talent Luca Hoole and new signing James Gibbons. On the left, Rovers have several options but no clear number one. In the centre, Barton has declared his desire to sign a right-sided centre-back – the job done last season by Stoke's Connor Taylor – to play with James Connolly as Alfie Kilgour continues to fight for a starting role.
Coutts in control
There was an unusual but intriguing sight at kick off in Wiltshire as, scanning the system Rovers started in revealed a certain Paul Coutts standing alongside Jamie Egan in the heart of the defence, on the inside shoulder of left-back Trevor Clarke.
It was an experimental line-up, of course, with the squad stretched over two matches and Ryan Jones shunted inside to fill a central midfield berth, putting in an impressive shift, it has to be said.
Granted, that meant the Gas lost a bit of the Coutts bite in midfield, not that it was necessarily needed on a balmy pre-season night at Chippenham, but the Scot approached his temporary role at the back with relish.
Calm and unflustered, as you’d expect, in possession and mopping up loose balls, his real strength lay in his direction from deep; instructing Jones and Jerry Lawrence what was sensible to do in possession and encouraging others around him. There was one moment where John Marquis twice hunted down a Chippenham defender to try and win the ball back, earning a “Go on John! Go on John!” from his skipper, some 40 yards away before a congratulatory, “well done, John Marquis” as he forced a throw-in.
You could start doing some tactical arithmetic and start thinking with Barton in need of centre-backs, maybe, just maybe Coutts could be a squad option - albeit with the veteran suspended for the first three games of the new campaign - but, in truth, that seems unlikely in League One.
With the greatest of respect, the need to be both aerially dominant and cover the space in behind on the turn, probably precludes Coutts’ involvement as a defender but there’s no doubting his continued influence on this team.
Lines can still cut it
At 36, Chris Lines has stepped away from full-time football but the Gas hero could still cut it in the EFL. He was neat and tidy in the Bath midfield, moving the ball with trademark precision and there were even a few of his lesser-spotted tackles thrown in – including one perfectly-timed challenge to take possession from Antony Evans as he weaved into a dangerous area.
He left the pitch in the final minutes to deserve applause from the 1,908-strong crowd as recognition not only for a solid performance in the centre of the park but also for the outstanding contribution he made to the Gas over the years, playing a part in three promotion campaigns.
Bath snapped Lines up after he was released by League Two Stevenage at the end of last season, with the transition out of full-time allowing him to focus on life after football, and the EFL's loss most certainly is the National League South Romans' gain. Could the promotion master add a sixth to his impressive CV next season?
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