12 days after the "Carlisle bore-athon", the Imps' face a tricky tie away at Bristol Rovers and it is arguably the easiest game so far to predict with the Gasheads haven't won at home and City haven't won away. After destroying Crewe, City have been brought back down to Earth after two very mediocre performances against Rushden and Carlisle and if by some miracle, we start challenging for promotion, we must start winning our away games otherwise we'll get a lovely trip to Grays next season.

I am as yet, undecided as to whether there will be any pictures of the game yet, however, I am taking my camera to take pictures of the ground to replace the "clouds" in the grounds section. On that note, the grounds section will soon see more profiles, hopefully within the next few days, I just haven't been bothered to update it yet :-p

Most of the City players will be fresh yet again and the only players guaranteed not to be playing are Danny Bacon who was loaned out to Burton during the week and Steve Robinson, who has yet to play for the Imps. Gareth McAuley could still miss the match due to injury that ruled him out of a probably place in the Northern Irish squad that deservedly beat England on Wednesday night.

The formation could be anyone's guess. Keith did revert to the 4-3-3 due to the absence of several players but has been switching back and forth with the 5-2-3 formation, hopefully it'll be the 4-3-3 formation though.

Who I think will start (Right to left)

Marriott

Beevers     Morgan    McCombe   Mayo

Brown  Cryan   Keates

Molango     Asamoah      Birch

Bristol Rovers, a club described by some fans as eternally irritating. They have arguably the best squad in the division with arguably the best striker in the form of former Imp, Junior Agogo. Some other talented players within the squad include Craig Disley, Craig Hinton and Paul Trollope and if it wasn't for our old friend, Mr (pr)Atkins, they'd probably be challenging for promotion.

Bristol Rovers have had a mixed start to the season. Their first game saw them travel to promoted Barnet and according to several sources, Rovers deserved to take all 3 points after being denied by a late goal in a 1-1 draw.

Two games against two of Lincoln's local rivals quickly followed. 4 days after the Barnet game, Rovers crashed 2-1 at home to Grimsby Town and just a few days later, lost 3-2 to Peterborough. Both of those games were at home and have therefore given them a 100% losing run at home (touch wood)

3 away games since have produced a respectable 6 points. They travelled to Torquay a week after losing to Peterborough and were 2-0 down with around 15 minutes to go but Junior Agogo inspired them and they came away with an impressive 3-2 victory. A League cup exit at Millwall was followed by a 2-0 defeat against another one of City's local rivals, Notts County.

That brings us to last week as Rovers beat Orient at Brisbane Road, again the scoreline being 3-2. Rovers currently sit 17th in the table, one place below the Imps and the only major surprise about this game is if it doesn't end in a draw.

Bristol Rovers' first season back down in this level saw them come to City in mid-September. Rovers continued on their good start to the season with a 1-0 win at Sincil Bank due to a goal from Kevin Gall. City got their revenge in March though. Peter Gain gave the Imps the lead before Sergio Ommel equalised. It looked as though it was heading for a draw before Justin Walker scored a last minute free kick to give the Imps only their 2nd (and last) away win of the season.

2002/3's first meeting between the 2 sides came in October when City travelled to the Memorial Ground. ROvers took the lead in the first half from a Ben Futcher own goal before Grazioli scored from the penalty spot early in the 2nd half. The return game at Sincil Bank saw the Imps take the lead when on-loan Danny Webb lifted the ball over the approaching goalkeeper despite appearing to be in an offside position. Astafjves quickly equalised before Futcher restored City's advantage with a 28th minute header.

Bristol Rovers became the first side to visit Sincil Bank after Keith's collaspe in 2003/4 and the Imps put in a performance that Keith would be proud off. City relatively controlled the game and took the lead through Yeo early on. Wayne Carlisle equalised just minutes later. City had to wait until the 2nd half to restore the advantage through Futcher and then Fletcher added to the scoreline just before the final whistle. I think it says it all about the game that McNamara ALMOST scored, it was an hilarious miss as he hit the ball over from 2 yards out, in front of an open goal.

The return game was a game that the Imps definatly want to forget. Rovers took a quick lead through Paul Tait, who almost joined the Imps in the following summer. City equalised mid-way through the 1st half when Futcher headed down towards goal and despite Richardson appearing to get the final touch, the ball was credited to Futcher. Tait restored the advantage in the 64th minute before former Imps' player Lee Thorpe added to the lead just before full time.

The game at the Memorial last season is a game that is easily forgetable as there were few chances for either side and the game finished with a rather unsurprising 0-0 draw. The return game was exactly spectacular either. Green gave the Imps' a second half lead before Agogo equalised before being sent off.