Introduction

The summer of 2019 saw Graham Coughlan’s first pre-season as manager of Bristol Rovers and his side played a total of seven pre-season games in the build up to the new campaign.

06/07/19 - Yate Town - Attendance 1,100: Referee Sam Fudge

The first of those seven games took place at Lodge Road, Yate, on 6th July when a ruthless Rovers were 10-1 winners and a crowd of 1,100 saw new signings Jordi van Stappershoef, Mark Little, Josh Hare and Tom Davies get their first minutes in a Rovers shirt.

Keeper van Stappershoef was the only player to complete the 90 minutes as Coughlan made ten changes at half time and whilst I don’t have the full lineup, several younger members of his squad were also given time on the pitch, including Luca Hoole, who has started this season in the first team, Luke Russe, Lucas Tomlinson, Ben Morgan, Tom Mehew and Cameron Hargreaves

In terms of goals, Gavin Reilly led the way with a hat trick, Ollie Clarke scored twice while Deon Moore, Kyle Bennett, Tom Nichols, Alex Rodman and Bernard Mensah also scored. Yate’s consolation goal came from Nick Peare.

10/07/19 - St Mochta's - Attendance and Referee Unknown

Coughlan’s other new signing, Anssi Jaakkola, didn’t play any part at Lodge Road, but he was in the squad that travelled over to Dublin to take on St Mochta’s along with Luke Leahy, who had joined Rovers from Walsall, and Tyler Smith who had joined on a season long loan from Sheffield United just before the team travelled.

**Back (L-R) Anssi Jaakkola, Alex Rodman, Luca Hoole, Tony Craig, Tom Davies, Luke Leahy**
**Front (L-R) Gavin Reilly, Cam Hargreaves, Tom Nichols, Luke Russe, Kyle Bennett**
*Photo courtesy of St Mochta*

Rovers were 7-0 winners in Ireland, on July 10th, and there was another hat trick, this time for Tom Nichols whose goals all came in the opening thirty minutes. Moore, Smith, Hare and Tomlinson also scored.

Rovers (First Half): Anssi Jaakkola, Luca Hoole, Tom Davies, Tony Craig, Cameron Hargreaves, Luke Russe, Luke Leahy, Kyle Bennett, Alex Rodman, Tom Nichols, Gavin Reilly.

Rovers (Second Half): Jordi van Stappershoef, Mark Little, Alfie Kilgour, Rollin Menayese, Ollie Clarke, Liam Sercombe, Lucas Tomlinson, Tyler Smith, Deon Moore, Michael Kelly, Josh hare.

St Mochta’s: Craig Hyland, Brian McGiven, Niall O’Reilly, Dean Thomas, Alan Byrne, Mark O’Neill, Luke Kelly, Michael Daly, Kenny Carr, Dean Kelly, Cathal O’Connor.

13/07/19 - Kidderminster Harriers - Attendance Unknown: Referee Will Finnie

Three days later, and back in England, Coughlan took his side to play against Kidderminster Harriers at the Aggborough Stadium and saw them draw 1-1.

Having struggled to create goalscoring opportunities before the break they conceded in the 36th minute when Ashley Chambers sidefooted the ball past Jaakkola .

Nichols equalised for Rovers in the second half before Coughlan made a raft of substitutions with twenty minutes of the game remaining, though no further goals were forthcoming.

Rovers: Anssi Jaakkola, Mark Little, Alfie Kilgour, Tony Craig, Luca Hoole, Ed Upson, Abu Ogogo, Luke Leahy, Lucas Tomlinson, Tom Nichols, Tyler Smith.

Substitutes (all used): Jordi van Stappershoef, Josh Hare, Rollin Menayese, Alex Rodman, Ollie Clarke, Liam Sercombe, Michael Kelly, Deon Moore, Gavin Reilly, Cam Hargreaves.

Kidderminster Harriers: Team unknown

**Luca Hoole in Action Against Bath City**
*Photo courtesy of Simon Rowe*

16/07/19 Bath City - Attendance 1,102: Referee Gary Parsons

July 16th saw Rovers head over to Bath to take on Bath City at Twerton Park, where a crowd of 1,102 saw them beat their hosts 2-0 thanks to goals from Alex Rodman and Mark Little.

Rodman’s first half goal arrived from a first time shot at the back post after a cross by Michael Kelly while Little, on as one of ten outfield substitutes in the 63rd minute, when he powered in a header from Leahy’s curling cross.

Rovers: Jordi van Stappershoef, Josh Hare, Tom Davies, Rollin Menayese, Alex Rodman, Ollie Clarke, Liam Sercombe, Michael Kelly, Kyle Bennett, Gavin Reilly, Deon Moore.

Substitutes (all used): Anssi Jakkola, Mark Little, Alfie Kilgour, Tony Craig, Luca Hoole, Ed Upson, Abu Ogogo, Luke Leahy, Lucas Tomlinson, Tom Nichols, Tyler Smith, Cam Hargreaves.

Bath City: Team not known

20/07/19 - Birmingham City Attendance 2,743: Referee Kevin Johnson

**Programme Cover for the Pre-season Friendly Against Birmingham City**

Birmingham City visited the Memorial Stadium on July 20th, a game that attracted a crowd of 2,743, and they ran out 2-1 winners. After Bennett had given Coughlan’s side the lead, the Blues won with goals from Kristian Pedersen and Lukas Jutkiewicz.

Bennett and Pedersen traded first half goals, while Jutkiewicz scored what proved to be the winning goal early in the second half.

Rovers: Anssi Jaakkola, Mark Little (Luca Hoole, 18), Tom Davies (Alfie Kilgour, 69), Rollin Menayese, Luke Leahy (Michael Kelly, 46), Kyle Bennett (Cam Hargreaves, 84), Liam Sercombe, Ed Upson (Deon Moore, 84), Ollie Clarke (Lucas Tomlinson, 41), Alex Rodman, Tyler Smith (Gavin Reilly, 69).

Substitute: Jordi van Stappershoef

Birmingham City: Lee Camp, Kristian Pedersen, Mark Roberts, Maxime Colin, Lukas Jutkiewicz, Harlee Dean, Steve Seddon (Charlie Lakin, 88), Kerim Mrabti, Gary Gardner, David Davis, Odin Bailey (Jude Bellingham, 58).

Substitutes: Nico Gordon, Tate Campbell, Josh Andrews, Connel Trueman, Caolan Boyd-Munce.

23/07/19 - Swansea City - Attendance 2,076: Referee Kevin Johnson (again!)

Swansea City were the next visitors to the Memorial Stadium and a crowd of 2,076 turned up to see them win 3-0 against Rovers on July 23rd.

**Josh Hare in Action Against Swansea City**
*Photo courtesy of Keith Brookman*

Jay Fulton opened the scoring for the Welsh side on 13 minutes when he curled a shot into to top right hand corner of the net from 25 yards out.

The Swans didn’t score again until seven minutes from time and this time it was second half substitute Borja Baston on target; he beat van Stappershoef in a one on one situation after being played in by Oli McBurnie.

Joe Asoro, another Swansea substitute, made in 3-0 in the final minute when he headed home at the back post.

Former Rovers loan players, McBurnie and Connor Roberts, were in the Swansea squad, both having won international caps for Scotland and Wales respectively since their very brief stay in BS7, while future Rover’s defender Cian Harries, was an unused Swansea substitute.

One of Rovers’ best players on the day was youngster Lucas Tomlinson of whom great things were expected.

Rovers: Jordi van Stappershoef, Josh Hare (Harry Hodges), Alfie Kilgour (Rollin Menayese), Tony Craig, Michael Kelly (Sam heal), Ed Upson (Theo Widdrington), Liam Sercombe (Cam Hargreaves), Abu Ogogo (Alex Rodman), Lucas Tomlinson (Kyle bennett), Tom Nichols (Deon Moore), Gavin Reilly.

Substitutes: Anssi Jaakkola, Tyler Smith

Swansea City: Erwin Mulder, Kyle Naughton (Connor Roberts), Mike van der Hoorn, Joe Rodon, Jake Bidwell (Declan John), Matt Grimes, Jay Fulton (Barrie Mckay), Bersant Celina (Borja Baston, Nathan Dyer (Joel Asoro), Oli McBurnie, Wayne Routledge (George Byers).

Substitutes: Kristoffer Nordfeldt, Cian Harries

27/07/19 - Plymouth Argyle - Attendance 5,099: Referee Brett Huxtable

For his side’s final pre-season game, Coughlin took Rovers back to one of his former clubs, Plymouth Argyle, on July 27th and they came away from Home Park with a 1-0 win under their belts thanks to a goal scored by new signing Victor Adeboyejo.

The striker had only just been signed, on loan from Barnsley, and had only been on the pitch 11 minutes when he smashed a shot into the Plymouth net with seven minutes of the game remaining following a pinpoint cross from Bennett.

**Ed Upson challenges former Rovers player Byron Moore**
*Photo courtesty of Plymouth Argyle*

This season, of course, Rovers have another loan signing from Barnsley, in the shape of Luke Thomas; let’s hope he fares better in BS7 than Adeboyejo whose loan was cut short in January 2020. He then moved on to Cambridge, again on loan, before returning to Oakwell.

Two former Rovers players, Gary Sawyer and Byron Moore were in the Plymouth squad for the game against Rovers just back in 2019.

Rovers: Anssi Jaakola, Mark Little (Josh Hare), Tom Davies, Tony Craig (Alfie Kilgour), Luke Leahy, Ed Upson, Ollie Clarke (Abu Ogogo), Liam Sercombe, Kyle Bennett (Gavin Reilly), Tom Nichols (Victor Adeboyejo), Alex Rodman (Lucas Tomlinson).

Substitutes: Jordi van Stappershoef, Tyler Smith, Michael Kelly, Rollin Menayese

Plymouth Argyle: Alex Palmer (Mike Cooper), Scott Wootton (Ben Hall), Niall Canavan, Gary Sawyer, Joe Riley, Danny Mayor (Jose Baxter), Joe Edwards (Adam Randell), Antoni Sarcevic (Conor Grant), Callum McFadzean (Ashley Smith-Brown), Joel Grant, Byron Moore (Klaidi Lolos).

There were 103 Gasheads in the crowd of 5,099.

Coughlan’s pre-season record was four wins, one draw and two defeats, though the season didn’t start well for him as he saw Rovers slip to defeat on the opening day of the season, at Blackpool. However, things picked up and when they beat Ipswich Town 2-1 at Portman Road on 14th December, they had climbed to fourth place in the League One table.

In his post match interview after that game the manager indicated that he didn’t feel he could take the club any further and said that he had to talk things over with his family in the coming days. By the Monday he was gone and a couple of days later he was installed as the new Mansfield Town manager.

His successor was the unknown (to most Rovers supporters) Ben Garner who was handed his first managerial role by Rovers before Christmas, and he managed to win just two games as boss between then and March 11th 2021 when the season was curtailed because of the Coronavirus pandemic.

Ironically, the last game before the premature end of the season saw Rovers put in one of their best performances under Garner as they beat Sunderland 2-0 in what was Tony Craig’s 600th first class match.

Garner survived to fight another season and Rovers finished in 14th place on a points per game ratio.

Friendly Fixtures - 2019/20