Bristol Rovers have ‘evolved’ as Newport County boss hails ‘excellent’ Joey Barton

Newport County manager James Rowberry has revealed his respect for Bristol Rovers manager Joey Barton ahead of an all important League Two clash.

The two will meet in the opposition dugout this Saturday when Barton brings his Gas side across the Severn Bridge to Rodney Parade.

Newport and Rovers are both competing for a play-off berth with the Exiles in the driving seat in sixth, though there are only two points separating the two sides. Should Barton mastermind an away victory then they would overtake the Welsh side and would also be in contention of an automatic spot.

In the reverse fixture back in October, Rowberry took charge of his first game, winning 3-1 at the Memorial Stadium, but expects a different test to the one he took charge in all those months ago.

Rovers were in the lower half of the table and had endured a slow start but now the West Country are firing on all cylinders with no team in League Two picking more points than them since the turn of the New Year.

“They have a really good manager, have a really good squad and are a really good club so it is going to be a tough challenge,” Rowberry said to the South Wales Argus in his pre-match press conference.

“They have evolved in the central areas of the pitch and try to build a little bit differently with one pivot rather than two.

“They try to commit a few more bodies forward than they did when we played them last time. “We have to be mindful of that and I think it will be quite an attacking and tactical game.

“Joey Barton was an excellent player and is showing his credentials as a manager, so it will be a tough game tactically as it was against Forest Green in midweek.”

Rovers will be backed by a boisterous support with 1,100 tickets quickly snapped up by the Gasheads, following on from strong away support at Leyton Orient and Stevenage.

They will look to exploit Newport’s slump in form with the Gwent team only picking up one win in their last five matches.

They did pick up a positive result however on Tuesday, drawing with runaway leaders Forest Green Rovers, however former Gas defender James Clarke was sent off, adding to Rowberry’s selection woes.

Despite being without Clarke, Robbie Willmott, Courtney-Baker Richardson, as well as Priestley Farquharson and Josh Pask, the Newport boss believes he can navigate through this period.

“I don’t see it as testing times, this is why we have got a squad,” said Rowberry to the South Wales Argus.

“If we have to do certain things in a slightly different way then we will stick to our principles.

“We won’t deviate from our principles, I will make that quite clear. I am going to be quite stubborn about that because it’s what I believe is right.

“We’ve got injuries but we still have a really good squad.

“The lads that didn’t play against Forest Green trained on Wednesday morning and the levels were terrific.

“The way that the younger players and the older ones that weren’t involved moved the ball and conducted themselves was first class.”