Bristol Rovers hit with brutal blow ahead of relegation battle six-pointer against Crawley Town
Bristol Rovers will have to make do without an in-form forward this Saturday when they take on Crawley Town at Broadfield Stadium in a match which could prove critical to the Gas’ chances of avoiding relegation from League One.
Striker Ruel Sotiriou, who has scored twice and provided an assist in Rovers’ last five games, will miss out after being called up for international duty by Cyprus ahead of their World Cup qualifying matches against San Marino and Bosnia & Herzegovina.
It will be Sotiriou’s second call-up to the national side, having been handed a debut last March in a friendly against Latvia, when he came on as a second-half substitute in a 1-1 draw, but it also restricts manager Inigo Calderon’s options ahead of a vital game with several other strikers out through injury.
Sotiriou call-up hurts chances against Crawley
The 24-year-old Sotiriou had a slow start to life at Bristol Rovers, scoring just once prior to Calderon’s appointment in December, but he has been much improved since, scoring four times in 2025 and earning a regular place in the starting line-up as well as becoming the club’s joint-top scorer.
Sotiriou call-up hurts chances against Crawley
The 24-year-old Sotiriou had a slow start to life at Bristol Rovers, scoring just once prior to Calderon’s appointment in December, but he has been much improved since, scoring four times in 2025 and earning a regular place in the starting line-up as well as becoming the club’s joint-top scorer.
The 24-year-old Sotiriou had a slow start to life at Bristol Rovers, scoring just once prior to Calderon’s appointment in December, but he has been much improved since, scoring four times in 2025 and earning a regular place in the starting line-up as well as becoming the club’s joint-top scorer.
That makes his loss ahead of a crucial game against Crawley Town all the more of a blow. Following a thumping 5-0 defeat on the road against Lincoln City at the weekend, the Gas are six points but just one place above the League One relegation zone.
Crawley, meanwhile, are 22nd in the division and 12 points below the Gas, who will feel confident that they will be out of reach of their relegation rivals if they can pick up three points on Saturday. The home side have not won any of their last seven league matches. Sotiriou’s absence means that the club will be forced to lean even more heavily on the goal-scoring skills of veteran Scottish striker Chris Martin, who is level at the top of the Gas’ scoring charts with five strikes this season.
Sotiriou only set to miss one match
The good news is that Sotiriou is only set to miss one match as a result of his international call-up, with Bristol Rovers not due to play any midweek matches over the course of the next fortnigh
The Cypriot should be back in the starting line-up in time for the home fixture against Mansfield Town on 29 March, and Calderon will have to hope that his loss isn’t felt too keenly this weekend against Crawley. But with scoring goals a problem for the Gas this season, his departure from the squad comes at a bad time – especially given that Irish forward Promise Omochere is expected to miss the rest of the season thanks to a serious hamstring injury.
Gatlin O’Donkor is also unavailable thanks to a similar injury, while teenager Ollie Dewsbury, who came on as a substitute in the defeat to Lincoln, may be required by the Welsh age group sides. That would leave Michael Reindorf, who has yet to play since signing on loan from Cardiff City in January, as Calderon’s only fit senior striker to pair with Martin.
In other news, Darrell Clarke, who twice led the Gas to promotion as manager, was sacked by Barnsley last week.
