Bristol Rovers versus Yeovil Town is a rivalry that is still in its infancy, a local derby that only first appeared in 2001, but this weekends match up between the two clubs could be the most important yet.
A win for the Glovers would take them to the 50 point mark, a figure that means almost certain safety, only one point being needed to reach the figure that would have meant survival in League 1 last season, and with seven games to play after this weekends clash they would almost certainly remain in the division for another year.
Rovers don't have that cushion, still four points off of safety they need to gaining points sooner rather than later. They have picked up since the appointment of Stuart Campbell, earning seven points from a possible twelve, but failure to beat Yeovil, one of the lower ranked teams in their run-in, would put the club in real danger of the drop.
The home side are a team in good form, losing only once in their last six games, that defeat coming against high flying Southampton, winning their last three and scoring nine goals in the process, the 5-1 thrashing of Leyton Orient in East London being the standout result from the sequence. At home, however, Yeovil haven't been doing as well as their overall form suggests.
Prior to Tuesdays home win over Carlisle you have to go back to February 1st for a victory at Huish Park, losing three in a row at home over February and the start of March, though these did come against teams who all currently occupy the play-off places.
Rovers are a much improved side since Campbell's appointment and had the side still been under the stewardship of Dave Penney, who failed to win any of his five away games in charge of the Gas, then coming up against an in form Yeovil team would most likely have resulted in another dreadful loss on the road.
But it's all changed now, Rovers have won their last two away games at Tranmere and Notts County. The Pirates only other two away wins this season also came in consecutive fixtures on the road, Dagenham and Huddersfield the victims of those results. Prior to the last two wins Rovers had lost seven away games in a row and hadn't won since that Huddersfield win in early October.
The problem Rovers have faced is conceding goals away from home, Swindon are the only other team in the division to concede as many, 42 in total, twice as many as the Gas have scored on the road. Three times this season Rovers have leaked six in a game, twice in the league and once against Oxford in the League Cup, and under Dave Penney's brief reign 18 goals went in away from the Mem.
One man who will know Rovers better than any other member of the Yeovil squad is striker Andy Williams.
Despite having three years with Rovers Williams never lived up to the hype that surrounded his arrival. After the failure of Richard Walker to step up to League 1 level Williams was thrust into the Rovers team and struggled under the pressure, scoring just six goals in 52 appearances. A season on loan back at former club Hereford was followed by another 45 games for Rovers, most of which came out on the wing, with another three goals scored, most memorably an exquisite curling effort from outside the box to earn Rovers a 3-2 victory away at Southampton.
Williams accepted a contract offer from Yeovil in pre-season, officially joining on August 1st. He has made a successful start to life in Somerset, moving back to the top end of the pitch, and has scored eight goals, though he did have to wait until his sixteenth appearance for the first.
One man Yeovil will have to watch out for is Jo Kuffour who looked to be getting back to his best last time out against Peterborough. The former Arsenal trainee has scored three goals in five games for Rovers against Yeovil, including goals in the last two meetings. If Kuffour does score then it really could see Rovers take something from the game as they are yet to lose when Kuffour has been on the scoresheet for any of his nine goals thus far this season.
Rovers and Yeovil have squared up a total of twelve times, the first meeting ending up in a win on penalties for Rovers in the LDV Vans Trophy while their opponents were still in the conference. Since the Glovers have joined the Football League there have been a number of tasty encounters between the sides, one of the best remembered games finishing 2-2 in 2004. Paul Terry and now Rover Gavin Williams put Yeovil 2-0 up at the Mem, red cards for Steve Elliott and Dave Savaged sandwiched in between, but the Gas fought hard and goals from James Hunt and Junior Agogo levelled the game and saw the Gas run out with a point.
It wasn't until the ninth meeting between the sides that Rovers finally claimed a victory, David Pipe, Darryl Duffy and Rickie Lambert on target in Bristol. Rovers have since won two of the last three games between the sides, the last two going their way. 2010 saw a first victory at Huish Park for Rovers, the away side taking home the points with a 3-0 win, going some way to bury memories of heavy defeats at the ground in previous encounters.
The referee for Saturday's game will be Neil Swarbrick. Swarbrick has previously taken charge of a game Between Rovers and Yeovil, that being the last time the Glovers won against the Gas. The last time the Lancashire official was at a Rovers game he sent off Jeff Hughes in a 3-1 Pirates defeat at Carlisle last April while he also saw Yeovil beat Swindon this January, sending off Robins full back Michael Rose in the process. This season Swarbrick has shown 89 yellow and 5 red cards and has often found himself officiating high scoring encounters.
Bristol Rovers player-manager Stuart Campbell talked about approaching every game in the right manner and believes that his squad can go out and take the points, saying:
"Yeovil have had a great run of form, three wins out of three have propelled them up the league, and that is something we are aiming to do.
"We are going to try and win every game between now and the end of the season, that is our mentality. Every game we approach, we will be looking to win it.
"We are not going to start this game with four or five men up front, but we are going to approach it with a winning mentality.
"We have players with naturally attacking instincts, so it will be normal for them to go out and try and win the game."
Yeovil manager Terry Skiverton spoke of his apprecition for the Rovers management team but thinks his team have a point to prove on Saturday, telling thisissomerset.co.uk:
"I think Saturday is a massive game. It is a massive game for us, our supporters and for the town to see how far we have come to compete with Bristol Rovers and to have overtaken them.
"I like [player-manager] Stuart Campbell and [assistant manager] Craig Hinton, they are good people and they are in the same situation as we were when we took over.
"They will be looking to turn us over, they have got really good players, they are in a false position and they are fighting for their lives as well."
Yeovil will be able to choose from a fully fit squad, though Terry Skiverton will most likely stick with his starting line up from Tuesday's win over Carlisle, playing a 3-5-2 formation.
Rovers are also likely to name an unchanged side with no fresh injury worries to deal with.
Gary Sawyer will serve the second and final game of his suspension for collecting 10 yellow cards in the league over the season. Dominic Blizzard remains injured after returning from a one game loan stint at Port Vale.
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