Stand by for a goal rush
Reporter: Michael Yarwood
Date published: 21 October 2008
Photo: Tom Pickles
LEE HUGHES . . . joint top-scorer alongside Chris Taylor with six goals.
MAYBE it’s tempting fate, but there appears to be a cast-iron certainty about Athletic’s game at Bristol Rovers tonight – neither side will lack firepower.
John Sheridan and Paul Trollope are leading two of the highest-scoring teams in the entire Football League with a combined record of 48 goals in 23 matches.
Athletic have been sharing the burden as Lee Hughes has struck six times, wide men Chris Taylor and Andy Liddell have scored 11 between them and four-goal midfielder Danny Whitaker is also chipping in well.
Bristol are far more reliant on one prolific marksman – former Rochdale star Rickie Lambert, whose tally of 10 makes him joint-leading scorer in the division – but it’s hard to envisage a dull, negative stalemate at the Memorial Stadium.
Athletic are seeking revenge after Rovers completed a league double over them last term, and Sheridan sees no reason why the tables won’t be turned.
He was encouraged by the weekend draw against Leicester, which featured a highly-charged second-half performance.
The manager said: “Bristol Rovers are a very dangerous side, but not many teams will live with us if we keep up our standards from Saturday.
“We showed character and commitment, we came back strongly and we could have snatched the win, so that’s definitely something to take forward.
“Now we’ve got two hard away games against Bristol Rovers and Swindon, but six points are what I’m after and it’s something we can achieve.
“We lost at both grounds last season and our performances weren’t too clever, but nowadays we’re going out in a different frame of mind.
“We’ve managed to find some consistency and everyone, including other teams and managers, can see we are a decent side who play attacking football.
“Bristol Rovers are scoring a lot of goals as well, but they are conceding quite a few – and that’s something we’ll look to exploit.
“I’m very confident going into the game because our level of performance is good at the moment and not one team all season has outplayed us.
“There have been dodgy little spells, like the second half at Stockport and a mad five minutes at Hartlepool which cost us three goals, but over 90 minutes we’ve matched or bettered every team.”
Bristol Rovers have had mixed fortunes at home, whacking six goals past Hereford, also beating Leyton Orient but suffering defeats to Carlisle and Walsall.
It was a similar story last season – only five wins in 23 attempts – as they almost got dragged into the relegation fight.
Last term’s highlight was a run to the FA Cup quarter-finals which enabled Rovers to strengthen their forward line during the summer.
They paid £100,000 for Swansea striker Darryl Duffy and £120,000 for Crystal Palace winger Jeff Hughes, while the nippy Jo Kuffour was a later addition from Bournemouth.
TONIGHT’S LEAGUE ONE FIXTURES:
Bristol Rovers v Athletic; Colchester v Millwall; Hartlepool v Huddersfield; Hereford v Carlisle; Leeds v Leyton Orient; Leicester v Walsall; MK Dons v Stockport; Peterborough v Brighton; Scunthorpe v Southend; Swindon v Northampton; Tranmere v Cheltenham; Yeovil v Crewe.
