Bristol Rovers travel to Mansfield Town this afternoon in League One

Bristol Rovers are back on the road for the first time in almost a month this afternoon when they face Mansfield Town in League One having had four consecutive home games.

The Gas are conceding fewer goals but have struggled to find the back of the net on a frequent basis recently, scoring just three goals in their last five league outings while also winning once in that period.

It was a mixed bag of results for Matt Taylor’s side over the course of those four home games, losing just one but drawing the subsequent three games with the Weston-super-Mare FA Cup tie eventually won after the score was level at the end of normal time.

Rovers know that their away form must improve having taken just four points from fixtures on the road so far this term and today’s game certainly won’t be a straightforward one with Mansfield enjoying a strong start to life at this level on the back of their promotion last season.

Although drawing at home to Crawley Town wasn’t, and still isn’t, seen as a good result, there was encouragement to take from the first half performance and, on the back of going three games unbeaten, there’s little reason for widespread changes.

So, with that considered, here’s how we think the Gas will set up at the One Call Stadium this afternoon…

Goalkeeper and defence

As we say every week, the easiest pick is Josh Griffiths in goal who spoke well when meeting with local press on Thursday afternoon ahead of today’s game.

Ahead of him, last weekend there was a major right-back shortage with left-back Clinton Mola having to swap sides. However, with Taylor Moore back from suspension and Joel Senior seemingly back in contention after almost three months out with a serious hamstring injury, there are more options to pick from.

Jack Hunt is still frustratingly sidelined and will be for some time according to Matt Taylor so the obvious pick is to put Moore back in there with Senior’s fitness levels still unclear. Although a centre-back, the 27-year-old has had a couple of good games on the right-hand side of defence and will hopefully ensure Rovers remain solid on the back of last weekend’s clean sheet.

Alongside the pair, Mola, James Wilson and Connor Taylor pick themselves at the moment with Taylor arguably playing his best football in a Gas shirt in recent weeks. Wilson was also outstanding last weekend alongside the 23-year-old with the duo seemingly the stand-out centre-back partnership.

Midfield

In terms of players knocking on the door for a starting spot, Grant Ward is probably one of the ones closest to getting back into the side but the performances of Kamil Conteh and Jamie Lindsay are continuously keeping the 29-year-old on the bench for the time being. However, assuming that’s the case once again today, you would expect that there’s a good chance he’ll start against Blackpool on Tuesday night to freshen things up.

Ahead of Conteh and Lindsay there’s also little evidence that Matt Taylor is likely to change the trio of Shaq Forde, Luke McCormick and Isaac Hutchinson who have started the last two matches all together.

McCormick in particular has been effective, buzzing around and sometimes being the furthest forward player for the Gas. After the contributions, or lack of, from the bench last weekend, it’s hard to see past the trio starting once again.