Saturday's game against Charlton lived up to the hype, the Gas coming from two goals behind to earn a point, Wayne Brown and Gavin Williams the players to get on the scoresheet, but it could have been so different had the visitors not had both Kyel Reid and Jose Semedo sent off at 2-0 up allowing Rovers to play with three at the back and go gung ho in their quest for survival. After the game Rovers manager Stuart Campbell claimed it was 'a point gained' but it could have been three had Will Hoskins not missed a golden opportunity to drag his side out of the relegation zone.
Next they face AFC Bournemouth for the second time in a month. Rovers came away with a 1-0 in the original game and will be hoping for a similar result again. After Lee Bradbury took over as manager at Dean Court he took his side on a ten game unbeaten run but since beating Oldham at the start of March there has been just one win that coming against struggling Notts County although they could, and perhaps should, have taken all three on Saturday. 2-0 up against ten-man Yeovil they somehow contrived to finish level, Adam Virgo scoring a penalty with four minutes to go before Shaun McDonald headed a 93rd minute equaliser. Home is where the Cherries feel most comfortable, they have lost just four times at Dean Court this season but half of those losses have come in the last three games.
That win over Bournemouth just a few weeks ago was Rovers last and they have since gone without a win in three, losing at home to Exeter and away at Southampton and, of course, drawing with Charlton. Their form on the road has been good since Campbell was appointed manager, nine points out of a possible twelve have been taken, though all three wins came against sides that reside in the bottom half of the table, the final score being 1-0 in each.
One Rovers player hoping to force his way into the starting line up on Monday will be Wayne Brown. The diminutive midfielder hasn't started a game since the home defeat to Plymouth at the start of January and made just two substitute appearances under the stewardship of Dave Penney but came on against both Yeovil and Exeter. He once again came off the bench against Charlton and helped turn the game around for the Gas, netting the first goal of the comeback, making a big impact on the game with his passing and movement, always looking to get into a good position to receive the ball before either shooting or laying it off for a team mate. It was an impressive performance and Brown will be hoping it reaps the reward of a place in Campbell's starting eleven.
After a dreadful display against Rovers where he wasted innumerous chances to score Bournemouth striker Danny Ings has hit a purple patch, getting on the scoresheet in each of the three games since, netting both in the aforementioned 2-2 draw with Yeovil. He has seven for the season and with his confidence grown over the past couple of weeks you fear that if he gets as many chances as he did at the Memorial Stadium he is likely to punish the Pirates this time around.
The overall record between Bournemouth and Rovers is heavily in favour of Monday's home side, 53 of the 116 games have gone their way, 43 of those coming in league competition while the Gas have 43 wins, 39 in the league. The last time there was an away win for Rovers at Dean Court Nathan Ellington put two in the onion bag with a two minute double salvo in a 2-1 win, Faroe Islands international Claus Jorgensen getting the Cherries goal, way back in February 2001, just over ten years ago.
The referee will be a familiar face to the Rovers players, having taken charge of their game against Southampton just over a week ago. He has shown 98 yellows over the course of his 34 games this season, seven of which came in the Southampton-Rovers game, and has sent off nine players including Graeme Lee when Rovers beat Notts County 2-1 in September. The last time he refereed a game involving Bournemouth the Cherries lost 2-0 to Blackpool in March 2007.
As mentioned above Wayne Brown will be pushing for a start after his fine performance off the bench on Saturday.
Jeff Hughes (triple wrist fracture) and Danny Coles (achilles) will not feature while James Tunnicliffe will also be unavailable as he is having the foot injury sustained against Charlton monitored for three days, though he has confirmed via Twitter that it is not broken.
For Bournemouth Stephen Purches will be looking to fight his way back into the starting line up after recovering from a facial injury but otherwise there are no new fitness or suspension concerns for Lee Bradbury's side.
Winger Marc Pugh and striker Lauri Dalla Valle will be pushing for starts after coming off of the bench against Yeovil.
Stuart Campbell spoke to bristolrovers.co.uk after the Charlton game and mentioned the Bournemouth game. On the subject of that and survival he said:
"We have three games left and we want to go out and win every one of them.Bournemouth gaffer Lee Bradbury also talked about Rovers in his last post match interview, he told afcb.co.uk:
"Bournemouth are a very good side, we saw that when they came here a couple of weeks ago, we are under no illusions about how tough the game will be, but we will go there and give 100% and hopefully get the three points we need."
"We know it will be hard against Rovers and we feel we owe them one after the game their place when we lost 1-0 after having 21 shots in the match.
"The lads now must lift themselves for the challenge against a team fighting for their lives and despite the disappointment against Yeovil, we are confident that we can turn in a good performance."
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