Bristol Rovers reporter gives his thoughts on Mansfield Town's season so far

We spoke to Daniel Hargraves, who covers Rovers for Bristol Live, and asked him what he thought of Matt Taylor’s side’s chances this weekend, as well as how he feels their season has gone so far.

How would you assess Rovers’ start to the season so far?

Although there are teams in and around them who have played a game fewer, most Gasheads would have taken 14th as their final finish at the start of the season.

This year is the first of a major transition period for the club with 16 new signings recruited over the summer. There have been a couple of stand out performances but four out their five league wins this season have come against teams below them in the table, while they have only picked up four points on their travels. That has to improve.

What have been the stand out games?

Home performances against Charlton Athletic and Lincoln City (3-2 win and 1-1 draw respectively) were probably their best in terms of competing with sides expected to finish higher than them this season. However, although it’s proving to be an anomaly, a 4-0 home loss to Wigan was the worst result of the season so far.

What’s Rovers’ target for the season?

As stated prior, most fans would be happy with a finish of around 14th. There are certainly some that believe that the top ten is an achievable target, Matt Taylor included, but he is also very aware that this is possibly the toughest League One crop ever.

It’s no secret that Rovers dream of playing in the Championship before the end of this decade but they’re also aware that this is the first year of a major transition period and a solid mid-table finish would be okay.

Who are the players to look out for?

In terms of players currently in form, they’re mainly at the back with centre-back Connor Taylor arguably the Gas’ most in-form player currently alongside defensive partner James Wilson.

Goalkeeper Josh Griffiths, on loan from West Brom, has also been superb for the Gas.

From an attacking sense, Shaq Forde is one of the most exciting forward players in this squad while Luke McCormick has also been a handful in his last two starts.

Predicted line up: Josh Griffiths; Taylor Moore, Connor Taylor, James Wilson, Clinton Mola; Kamil Conteh, Jamie Lindsay; Shaq Forde, Luke McCormick, Isaac Hutchinson; Promise Omochere

I think this is a toughie for the Gas. They were excellent last time out on the road at Reading and were unlucky to lose 1-0 with ten men. However, generally they’ve been second best when playing away.

Mansfield will rightly be confident that they can win this one. From a Rovers perspective a draw would be a good result.