Bristol Rovers have one final chance to, at the very least, take their survival battle to the final day of the season when they host Reading on Saturday lunchtime in their final home game of the campaign, looking to end a run of eight games without a win.
A disastrous streak of seven defeats and one draw has seen the Gas plummet into the relegation zone, having been as comfortable as nine points clear of the bottom four with 10 matches remaining after back-to-back home wins over Bolton Wanderers and Huddersfield Town.
Recent home matches against Exeter City and Stevenage, either side of a 1-1 draw at automatic promotion chasers Wrexham, were both dubbed “must-win” and ended in defeats. Now, they have one last opportunity to at least have the chance for their survival bid to go to the final day.
Victory over Reading in Saturday’s early kick-off would redirect the spotlight back onto Burton Albion who host Cambridge United, who would subsequently be relegated as a result of a Rovers win, this weekend before playing a Wigan Athletic side whose safety has already been sealed at the Pirelli Stadium on Tuesday night as their game in hand.
If the Brewers were to drop points in either of those two home games, then the battle for survival would go down to the final day with Crawley Town also potentially in the hunt if they beat Northampton Town at home on Saturday. Burton, Rovers and Crawley are all away at Charlton Athletic, Blackpool and already-relegated Shrewsbury Town on the last day next Saturday.
All of this, however, is reliant on the Gas actually winning. Fail to win, and Rovers’ relegation to League Two could be all-but sealed by Saturday evening with Burton boasting a far superior goal difference.
“Well, if we win, obviously I will have to look. If we don’t, I will probably just throw my phone into the river,” Inigo Calderon joked to Bristol Live when asked how much attention he is paying to what happens elsewhere in the relegation battle ahead of hosting Reading.
“Listen, it’s about us and because after the games, you don’t know what to expect. As I say, we got a point from probably the most difficult game we have against Wrexham and we couldn’t get anything against the, in theory, easiest games in terms of the opposition.
“[It] doesn’t matter at this stage of the season; you do not know what to expect. As I say, sometimes when you don’t have the pressure, you feel more relief. I can tell you, [if] we don’t have nothing to play [for], maybe we’ll look better, but now, as we are fighting for [our] lives, we look worse because of the pressure.
“It doesn’t matter the opposition, it doesn’t matter the other games. We have to try to do things right and that’s the most important thing.”
Rovers do have what could prove to be a blessing or a curse in the form of a lunchtime kick-off against their Berkshire-based opponents.
Like the reverse fixture back in October, a 1-0 defeat, the game has been selected for Sky Sports Plus coverage and will subsequently kick off at 12:30, ahead of Burton’s game against Cambridge and Crawley hosting Northampton at 3pm.
If the Gas win on Saturday, they will be able to go home knowing that they did all that they can do. Anything but three points though, and Burton will have a clear opportunity to checkmate and seal their survival while relegating Rovers in the process.
“That can be good, because you can put pressure on them or it can be worse if you don’t do your homework,” Calderon declared to Bristol Live on the lunchtime kick-off slot.
“Even if we get the three points, I think that means that Cambridge are down so that doesn’t make too much sense to me. I think, at least in different leagues, in the last games you play at the same time.
“But I don’t want to complain about the rules. I have enough things to worry about and listen, as I say, it can be good because if we do what we have to do, probably [we] can put a little bit of pressure on Burton.
“So for me, I cannot even think about them. We have enough things to worry about.”
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