Shrewsbury Town v Bristol Rovers injury news as seven ruled out and one doubt

Bristol Rovers will be without four of their players for their penultimate fixture of the season with Shrewsbury Town.

Josh Grant, Paul Coutts, Anssi Jaakkola and Jordan Rossiter will all miss the trip to the New Meadow this evening.

Coutts, Grant and Rossiter are all long-term absentees who have missed a large chunk of the season. Jaakkola has not played much either but he has been a back-up to James Belshaw, but has been unavailable since the start of the month with a calf problem.

Ellery Balcombe started in goal against Peterborough United with Jed Ward not on the bench, and Belshaw instead the back-up option.

Rovers do have Antony Evans to choose from again after serving his ban. He was red carded against Plymouth Argyle and missed one match, and now comes back in to Joey Barton’s thoughts.

Grant has been out for a majority of the season and has played just 10 minutes this season. It was hoped he could return but he suffered a slight groin problem which is likely to rule him out.

Coutts suffered a knee injury in March in training, and has since joined the coaching staff. He is out-of-contract at the end of the season and is being given an opportunity to taste what a coaching role could be like if he retires.

Jordan Rossiter has been out since December with a torn meniscus. He underwent surgery and there was a hope he’d return in February, but there was a complication in his comeback.

As for Shrewsbury Town, they have been unfortunate with injuries this season. Daniel Udoh and George Nurse picked up ACL injuries at the start of the campaign.

Tom Bayliss is also out after rupturing his ligaments in one of his ankles. He’s been a big player for the Shrews with six goals and five assists.

Matthew Pennington is a doubt after missing the defeat to Sheffield Wednesday. He was a doubt as was Christian Saydee but the latter was able to play 45 minutes.