Schumacher's Bristol Rovers Preview
Argyle take on Bristol Rovers for the third time this season – the second in the Papa Johns Trophy – when the sides meet in a quarter-final tie on Tuesday night.
Argyle travel to the Memorial Stadium to take on a Rovers side who sit eighth in Sky Bet League One, and are in good form. When the sides met in the league at the Mem earlier in the season, Rovers came from behind to draw 2-2, and prior to that, in the group stages of the Trophy, the game finished 1-1, with Argyle gaining an extra point via a shoot-out.
“I’m looking forward to it,” said Greens boss Steven Schumacher. “It should be a good game. The last time we went there it was a really exciting game that, in the second half, could have gone either way. We’re expecting another tough game. They’ll be desperate to win it, we want to go there and give it our best because there is a semi-final at stake.
“They are in great form at the moment, their forwards in particular have been on fire. They have two of the best performing centre-forwards in the division. If they play, we will have to aware of their threats.
“We’ve got forwards who have got ten goals each, so it should be an end-to-end, exciting game. It will be competitive and it will be feisty, because that’s the type of game it will be. We’re looking forward to it and we will be ready.”
Both sides rotated heavily for the first encounter between the teams, as is typical for the competition, but with a Wembley final on the horizon if either side can win two more games, Schumacher has said his team will take on a strong feel.
With Argyle making four signings in the transfer window already, the game is an ideal chance for several to gain experience for Argyle, while defender James Bolton has an opportunity to play, having not started a game since April.
“It will be two teams who are stronger than the teams that played in the group stage,” said Schumacher. “We’re going to be stronger because we have got a few players that can play because they haven’t played in the competition this season, and we’ve got James Bolton coming back from injury and who needs games. A few young lads will be involved as well.
“[The new players] need to settle in, and get to know their team-mates’ strengths. They also need some game minutes. Callum [Wright] hasn’t played an awful lot of football recently, Jay [Matete] hasn’t either. Ben Waine has come from the either side of the world, and had to get over jet lag and get himself going.
“The minutes they are going to get tomorrow night are going to be vital because we need them up to speed as quick as possible.
“It is important that we take this competition seriously. We’ve seen the exposure that the young players have had in the competition. They have stood out and done well, gaining great experience. Now, we’ve got players who need minutes and if we didn’t have this fixture, we’d have to have an in-house, behind-closed-doors friendly which no-one really enjoys.
“We’d rather go to Bristol Rovers for what will be a really competitive game with something on the end of it.
“We’re taking a good few fans for it, which is great, and we hope to put on a good performance for them. We’ll give it our best shot.”
