Pirates get that sinking feeling

CHOPPY WATERS... former Athletic boss Dave Penney has seen his Rovers side lose their last four games.

DAVE Penney is not about to walk the plank just yet, but his adventure with the Pirates of Bristol Rovers has taken the former Athletic manager into troubled waters.

“I knew it was going to be tough — you don’t generally get a job when a club is in a healthy position,” said the 46-year-old upon filling the vacant hot-seat at the Memorial Stadium in January.

“But I didn’t know it was going to be as tough as this.”

Under Penney, Rovers have slipped to the bottom of npower League One and are shipping goals at an alarming rate.

Since their last win, 3-1 against Swindon Town on home soil, Penney’s side have lost four games in succession, scoring five times but conceding 13 in the process.

With only one three-point haul in the last 18 league matches, Rovers find themselves at the very bottom of the standings, four points adrift of safety and scrambling desperately for a winning formula.

Following his disappointing spell at Boundary Park, Penney will no doubt be keen to show Athletic fans what a team he manages is capable of achieving — just as the visiting fans on Saturday will be aiming to rub their old manager’s nose in it.

Outside the dug-out, Jean-Paul Kalala provides one familiar face in the Rovers line-up after signing from Yeovil on deadline day.

Peterborough striker Rene Howe and midfielders Scott Davies of Reading and Gavin Williams of Bristol City have also arrived as Penney attempts to improve his team’s lot.

While tightening up at the back is a priority — Rovers’ goal difference of 29 is the worst in the division — they will continue to look to Will Hoskins to provide the goals which could haul them out of the drop zone.

The ex-Rotherham front man, who scored with a terrific effort at Boundary Park in the 1-1 draw earlier this season, has a total of 19 strikes to his name in all competitions this season.