Bristol Rovers begin life back in League Two with a home fixture against Harrogate Town this Saturday at the Memorial Stadium.
It was a tough end to the 2024/25 season for Rovers fans who had to watch their team lose their final five home fixtures as they were condemned to relegation from League One.
Unsurprisingly, that sparked a change in the dugout, with former boss Darrell Clarke returning to the club on a three-year deal. Clarke won 42% of his matches in charge during a lengthy previous spell at the Memorial Stadium, and with four wins out of six in pre-season, there’s a degree of optimism heading into the new campaign.
The same can’t be said of Harrogate who have not looked convincing at all over the past fortnight as they prepare for another crack at League Two. The Yorkshire club finished 18th last season, and they only managed to score one goal across five pre-season fixtures, and that came almost a month ago against non-league Guiseley.
How the bookies view it: Hosts the clear favourites
The bookies are expecting Bristol Rovers to take care of business here. They are priced at 3/4 to win the game with Boylesports, while you can back Harrogate to spring a surprise and win at 16/5. The draw is available at 12/5.
Recent head-to-head: First meeting in three years
These sides have not met all that frequently in the past, although they were both in League Two during the 2021/22 season. Rovers were under the guidance of Joey Barton at the time and won both meetings to nil.
Players to watch: Hutchinson to shine in League Two?
Relegation should serve up more goal-scoring opportunities for The Gas this season, and one player who could have a big impact in this league is Isaac Hutchinson. He scored 15 goals in all competitions for Walsall in the 2023/24 season, including 12 in League Two, and the 25-year-old looks good at 4/1 to score anytime in this game with Boylesports.
Predicted Lineups
Clinton Mola is expected to be the only absentee from a home perspective.
Harrogate have a few more injury problems heading into the new campaign, and they could be missing Levi Sutton, George Thomson and Jack Muldoon here.
Bristol Rovers: Southwood, Sparkes, Kilgour, Moore, Taylor, Senior, Conteh, McEachran, Hutchinson, Omochere, Sotiriou.
Harrogate: Belshaw, Burrell, Bradbury, O’Connor, Asare, Evans, Fox, Taylor, Smith, Hill, Bennett.
Anything else catch the eye?
The poor pre-season form of Harrogate, and specifically the lack of anything like a real goal threat, suggests they are likely to struggle in this game against one of the favourites for automatic promotion.
You can back the visitors to score under 0.5 goals at 13/10 with Boylesports, a winning bet in each of their past four friendly matches. They’ve not been that much better at the other end either, and there may also be value in backing Bristol Rovers to win (-1 Handicap) at 9/4 with the same bookmaker.
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