Bristol Rovers team news ahead of Northampton Town as Daniel Ayala decision is made
Bristol Rovers have no fresh injury returnees ahead of Northampton Town whilst a decision has been made on free agent Daniel Ayala
Bristol Rovers have no fresh injury returnees ahead of their match at home to Northampton Town on Saturday afternoon with a number of regulars still side lined with respective issues while Bristol Live understands that the club have decided to not offer out of contract defender Daniel Ayala a contract.
The former Blackburn Rovers, Middlesbrough and Liverpool centre-back was pictured training with the club during the international break but the Gas have opted not to sign the 32-year-old who has been a free agent since leaving Blackburn at the end of last season.
Tristan Crama’s return to full fitness has offered more choice at the back, albeit still limited, with James Wilson’s return hopefully not far away.
Following the sacking of Joey Barton on Thursday afternoon, former assistant manager Andy Mangan addressed the media ahead of tomorrow’s clash against the Cobblers and confirmed that no new players will be back, although some aren’t far away.
No,” Mangan confirmed when asked whether any players will return for Northampton. “We’re not far away to be honest with a couple of these players. That’s just a moving target at the moment. There’s an awful lot of moving parts because some of them are fit to train right now and some are in the last phases of their sports rehab but putting them in now would be the wrong thing to do.
“We have to give them at least a weeks training, maybe two weeks. [We have to] stress them out in training to see if they’d last in a game and we can move forward again on that one.
Like I’ve said before, I do think we’ve got a good squad and I think that the lads here are good enough to win games of football they just need that little bit of desire maybe that’s gone in the last two games.
“I do think there have been moments in both games where we’ve been okay but we have to make sure that that’s more consistent during a 90 minute period.”
James Wilson (knee), Jack Hunt (unknown), Luke Thomas (hamstring), Luke McCormick (ankle), Grant Ward (knock), Jordan Rossiter (knee) and Ryan Woods (suspended) are the players currently side lined. Although, last weekend did see surprise returns for Crama and John Marquis so there could be another player who returns ahead of schedule after final fitness tests on Friday.
