Team News From The Rovers Camp

Last updated : 13 November 2009 By Thetashkentterror

Stuart Campbell
Bristol Rovers captain Stuart Campbell spoke to BBC Points West ahead of his side's game at home to Carlisle tomorrow, Campbell hoping for a quick improvement now that the Pirates have lost six matches in a row :


" I think the run has been a culmination of things really, each game has been slightly different. Obviously in a few of the games we feel that we have done enough to get something out of the game but unfortunately that hasn't been the case. As we have found, you know how quick football changes, a week seems a long time in football let alone five or six.

" Being the captain affects all parts of your life, it is not a job that as soon as you leave here you switch off. You take it home and and you look at things in depth and you are trying to think of ways to put it right. To a certain extent it affects family life but I have got three young children so trying to explain to them why Daddy is in a bad mood, that is not going to wash really. So on that aspect of it, it is good to have the kids because that does take your mind off it.

" We are bitterly disappointed with the way it has gone but we have got a great game at home on Saturday to try to put it right. At the end of the day if we get a good result and other results go our way then we can find ourselves leapfrogging back into the play-offs.

" With the run that we have been on it has been extremely disappointing when you take a step back and you look and you assess it. You think that if we can hopefully put this bad run behind us and get on a good run again then that could really kick-start us.

" The next two home games are massive for us, no more so given the recent results that we have had, that we have to go and get as many points as possible out of those two games. We have got a good group of lads in there and to be honest everyone is working extremely hard every day on the training pitch to try to put things right.

"Carlisle have had a good couple of results in the league haven't they of late so they will be coming down here full of confidence. Obviously they didn't have a great result at the weekend did they but they will be coming down here full of confidence. Graham Kavanagh plays in central midfield and they seem to have a good mix of youth and experience so I am sure it will be a good game.

" We played against them last year and he scored a very good goal up there against us and I have seen a couple of highlights this season and I think he has done it again. He is vastly experienced and it will be a good test for me personally. For us though we have just got to all stick together at times like this really and I am sure we will turn it around. "




Bristol Rovers have very few problems ahead of tomorrow's match, their squad already strengthened by the return of two loanees who were cup-tied by their parent clubs in the FA Cup defeat against Southampton last weekend, the pair being Reading goalkeeper Mikkel Andersen and Charlton striker Chris Dickson. Injury-wise former Bristol City centre-half Danny Coles is available again after a recent knee problem, but right-back Aaron Lescott is still sidelined with a niggling groin strain.

The referee for tomorrow's match is Grant Hegley from Bishop's Stortford in Hertfordshire, and he will be assisted down the lines by Brett Huxtable from Torrington in Devon and Neil Radford from Worcester. Meanwhile the fourth official is Richard Kendall from Luton in Bedfordshire.