Bring on the Burton...

It's currently 7 minutes to 1am on Saturday morning, which means it's already match-day! Saturday has come around once again and it's a chance for Rovers to win back-to-back games for the first time this season.

Fresh from the 5-2 hammering of Rotherham, we go in to the away game against Burton with plenty of confidence and no fresh injury concerns. Saying that, it's not good news at all for either Adam Virgo or Wayne Brown who have found out the extent of their injuries. Virgo picked up a knee injury in training last Friday and has had to have an operation in order to fix the problem. Physio Phil Kite has told Paul Buckle that in a worst case scenario, our vice-captain could be out for the rest of the season. If that does turn out to be the case, I hope he makes a full and speedy recovery, before returning next season and kickstarting his Rovers career. For Brown, the outlook is quite so bleak, although his ankle injury could see him out for up to 3 months, which rules him out until the new year. Despite the disappointment in losing two key first-team players for a lengthy period of time, we've been without them for quite a while already and have shown that we are capable of winning games, which can only be a good thing.

Kayne McLaggon and Michael Boateng, two of out development squad, have been sent on loan to Blue Square Bet South side Tonbridge Wells in order to gain first team experience over the next 4 weeks. Both players impressed when featuring for the side over the course of pre-season, but they have so far failed to make the first team in a league game, hampered by the reduction in the number of substitutes permitted in a match-day squad. Fingers crossed they can play regularly during the loan spell away, before returning and pushing on to make the first-team with us. I'll take a close look at how they perform over the next few weeks.

The week has passed with very few talking points aside from the 3 points picked up last week, so, at this stage in the season, that can be seen as a positive. Scott McGleish, Matt Gill, Craig Stanley and Joe Anyinsah have been among the players to come out and reveal their delight with the team performance against Rotherham, but have stressed that we need to develop 'consistency' before we can really stamp our authority on the division. It has been nice to note that the lads haven't got carried away with one good performance, although it looks like we have finally turned a corner and are beginning to find some form and consistency, both with team selection and performances.

Burton will pose a threat though, particularly at home, make no mistake about that. They have a proud record that has seen them lose only once at the Pirelli Stadium this season, when Cheltenham defeated them 2-0 last week. Former Rovers player Justin Richards is the star player for the Brewers, but it looks likely he won't be fit enough to feature in the game. That's a slight relief from the fans point of view as, although he was poor for us, he was destined to find the net if he appeared against us!

It'll be a difficult game and I'm sure Burton will go in to it as favourites, but with us looking like we are beginning to gel as a side, scoring a fair few goals in the process, I'm more than hopeful we can win the game. Having said that, I'm confident going in to every game, only to be disappointed at around 10 to 5 on a Saturday evening!

I have every confidence in the side. I just hope we see a performance that sees us reach or eclipse the standard we set against Rotherham, not a performance that resembles our capitulations at Crawley or Oxford. Which way will it go? Well, this is Rovers after all, so it's impossible to predict. But, unsurprisingly, I'm plumping for an away win. I have to though, I need to justify travelling up to Burton in just 9 hours time!

It's bed time for me now, if you're going to the game tomorrow, I shall see you there. Let's bring back the 3 points! Goodnight Irene.