{"id":42127,"date":"2024-12-13T14:37:12","date_gmt":"2024-12-13T14:37:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/?p=42127"},"modified":"2026-06-10T21:10:45","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T20:10:45","slug":"bristol-rovers-hope-to-upset-birminghams-title-hopes-in-first-st-andrews-league-clash-for-30-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/2024\/12\/13\/bristol-rovers-hope-to-upset-birminghams-title-hopes-in-first-st-andrews-league-clash-for-30-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Bristol Rovers hope to upset Birmingham\u2019s title hopes in first St Andrew\u2019s league clash for 30 years\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Manager Preview | Matt Taylor on Birmingham City, Lee Cattermole and injury news\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/wp2RiRmiB4g?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bristol Rovers face a daunting trip to promotion favourites Birmingham City on Saturday, with the Blues riding a five-match winning streak.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Birmingham are in blistering form, and their ambitions of returning to the Championship are clear. Fans will remember how they <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/sport\/football\/articles\/c4gejxkv2g1o\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/sport\/football\/articles\/c4gejxkv2g1o\">shattered the League One transfer record<\/a> in August by signing Jay Stansfield for over \u00a315 million.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rovers, on the other hand, are coming into the game after an extended break, having seen their match against Bolton Wanderers <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bristolrovers.co.uk\/news\/bolton-wanderers-match-postponed\">postponed<\/a> due to Storm Darragh.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Under-pressure boss Matt Taylor views the rare matchup as a real opportunity, rather than a daunting task for the Gas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;People might understand where Birmingham are at, but we don\u2019t see it that way. We see it as the next challenge.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Gas are eager to bounce back after a dismal <a href=\"https:\/\/www.skysports.com\/amp\/football\/news\/11095\/13266259\/leyton-orient-3-0-bristol-rovers\">3-0 loss to Leyton Orient<\/a> in their last outing. Taylor acknowledged the importance of the break, saying:&nbsp;\u201cThe time away has given us a chance to reset, but we know we need to perform.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-x wp-block-embed-x\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Ollie O&#39;Neill doubles Leyton Orient&#39;s lead with a stunning curling effort against Bristol Rovers \ud83d\udd25 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/JiWKU81Ron\">pic.twitter.com\/JiWKU81Ron<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SkyFootball\/status\/1864046308534677758?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 3, 2024<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The game could come too quickly for striker Promise Omochere, who is still recovering from both an ankle and a hand injury. However, Taylor hinted Omochere could make a surprise return in an impact role.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;Promise has done his first-team session today&#8230; it\u2019s a late decision, but we\u2019ll see how he is,&#8221;&nbsp;he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Full-backs Lino Sousa and Jack Hunt remain unavailable. Sousa, sidelined since October, is still weeks away from recovery, while Hunt\u2019s return has been delayed due to ongoing rehab.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cLino is not available; Jack\u2019s strength scores are impressive, but we take each day as it comes.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With Rovers struggling in front of goal, Taylor will need to be bold and take risks if they are to unlock Birmingham\u2019s tough defence and leave St Andrew\u2019s with anything rosier than another defeat.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bristol Rovers face a daunting trip to promotion favourites Birmingham City on Saturday, with the Blues riding a five-match winning streak.&nbsp; Birmingham are in blistering form, and their ambitions of returning to the Championship are clear. Fans will remember how they shattered the League One transfer record in August by signing Jay Stansfield for over [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":304,"featured_media":38563,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1779,1621],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bristol-rovers","category-sport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/304"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42127"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42127\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44665,"href":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42127\/revisions\/44665"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}