Joey Barton returned to face Sunderland once again, this time as manager of Bristol Rovers. The ball was firmly in our court though, with promotion rivals Peterborough losing 3-1 to Blackpool midweek. Our previous meeting with Bristol Rovers finished all square, with a cagey affair on the opening day of the season.
Sunderland would need to be much stronger this time around if we were to come away from the Memorial Stadium with maximum points. We are getting towards the important part of the season and there is no room for mistakes if we were to finally gain promotion. Last time out, the lads were held by Lincoln City at the Stadium of Light in a game that finished 1-1.
Sunderland were still without a number of key names, one of which was Jordan Jones. However, he shouldn’t be out of action for too much longer. In addition, defenders Bailey Wright, Denver Hume and Conor McLaughlin were all also unavailable. Lee Johnson made two changes from our previous game, with Josh Scowen and Aiden O’Brien replacing Grant Leadbitter and Conor McLaughlin, who was on international duty.