Bristol Rovers could once again be without key central midfielders Sam Finley and Paul Coutts for the visit of Wycombe Wanderers to the Mem as Joey Barton looks to continue the winning buzz running through his squad.
Rovers claimed a 3-1 victory at Forest Green Rovers on Saturday to make it seven points from their last three games, and did so with 19-year-old Lamare Bogarde and January arrival Grant Ward expertly anchoring their midfield in place of captain Coutts and Finley, arguably the Gas’ best individual this season.
Wycombe are likely to present a significantly stronger challenge than rock bottom Forest Green, added to the fact that Bogarde and Ward may have to play three games inside eight days, if neither of the experienced pair recover.
Barton has all-but ruled Coutts out of Tuesday’s game under the lights due to a knee injury sustained at Oxford United last month, while Finley seems tough and go after being laid low with illness at the end of last week.
“Sam’s been ill so we’ll have to find out how he is,” Barton said. “That’s the thing, we missed his impact in the team and skip’s struggling with his knee so we’ll have to see how that settles down, it still hasn’t really responded to the injection as well as we would have hoped.
“I think he’s going to be out of Tuesday’s game. Hopefully Sam is feeling a bit better but he wasn’t feeling great and we’ll monitor that. It’ll be nice to have them back but, if not, as the lads have shown at Forest Green, we’ve got a good group to cause Wycombe problems.”
Wycombe promise to be a tough examination for this Rovers squad, especially when shorn of so much midfield nous and knowhow, as the Chairboys remain one of the more awkward teams to play in the division.
Their direct style of the last decade could eventually be a thing of the past following the departure of Gareth Ainsworth to take over at QPR, but his replacement Matt Bloomfield is still working with the same set of players so it’s unlikely the new head coach will make too many stylistic changes so soon.
That’s also against the backdrop of Wycombe still battling for a play-off place as they lie seventh, six points behind Bolton Wanderers, with their ambitions taking a serious knock on Saturday with defeat to Burton Albion.
The reverse fixture on Boxing Day saw Rovers out-fought and dragged into an physical encounter at Adams Park in which they never seemed properly equipped to contest and lost the game 2-1. With momentum on their backs once again, Barton is confident of avoiding a repeat fate as he looks to move his side closer to the 52-point target he craves to ensure their League One status for next season.
“We’ve had that barometer,” Barton added, with Rovers currently on 45 points. “(As a) newly promoted team, you have to establish yourself in the division and if we can do better than that, fantastic. If we can continue this winning and decent form, the earliest we can get that points target it’ll settle everyone down because we know we’ll be a League One outfit next year and you can start your recruitment phases.
“For us, we want to push on in the league and finish as high as we can because we’ve had enough of losing football in recent weeks and the lads have now got that winning feeling back and it’s the best feeling in football. Momentum is hard to get and it’s important we must work hard to maintain it.
“Okay, it’s a great test for us, it’s going to be a tough game because they always make it tough for you. From our perspective it’s a challenge we have to overcome. They have got a lot of experienced pros in there but it’s Matt Bloomfield now, it’s not Gareth Ainsworth. I don’t know what his ideology is but, I’d imagine, he hasn’t gone too far away from what was very successful for that Wycombe group but he will want his own identity so I’ll get my eyes on the Burton game.
“From their perspective, the play-off race is hotting up, they’ve kind of got to keep winning games to stay with that and we’ll have a strategy to take maximum points.”
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