Bristol Post

BRANDON’S BIG DASH TO MAKE ROVERS GAME

- James PIERCY james.piercy@reachplc.com

BRISTOL Rovers midfielder Brandon Aguilera is undertakin­g a 5,500-mile journey to try to be ready for their League One encounter at Port Vale tomorrow after featuring for Costa Rica in their friendly defeat against Argentina.

On-loan Nottingham Forest talent Aguilera played 68 minutes for his country in Los Angeles as they were beaten 3-1 by the world champions with goals from Angel Di Maria, Alexis Mac Allister and Lautaro Martinez.

The 20-year-old is due to land at Heathrow late tonight with Rovers then laying on an Uber to transport him to the team hotel just outside Stoke-on-Trent, with kick-off then following at 3pm on Friday. Rovers manager Matt Taylor won’t be fully

able to assess the playmaker until he joins up with the rest of the squad, to then determine exactly how much of the game he’ll be able to play.

On the plus side, his time on the field for Costa Rica has kept his sharpness over the internatio­nal break after a month out with a hamstring injury, but the 13-hour journey he will undertake and the likely impact that will have on his physical state means he may only be good enough for a place on the bench.

“It’s an interestin­g one,” Taylor said. “Brandon gets back in the late hours of Thursday, so we’ve got to find a way of getting him from Heathrow, if his flight is on time, up to Port Vale.

“With all flights and travel, there could be delays, there could be problems, there could be hiccups, there could be fatigue in there. I’ll speak to him Friday morning, it will be great to have him available and it’ll be great if he can play some part. What that looks like on Friday is yet to be determined.

“But either way, it’s a positive he’s got some game time and got through unscathed after his previous injury, and he got to play against Argentina. From Argentina to Port Vale, it’s a bit of a contrast!”

The internatio­nal break has allowed for a degree of healing within the squad, mentally and physically, in the wake of their 5-0 thrashing at the hands of Lincoln City in their previous match.

Luca Hoole and Jed Ward have returned after Wales Under-21 and England Under-20 duty, but defender Elkan Baggott is a doubt after withdrawin­g from the Indonesia squad.

Luke McCormick has returned to full training and could come into the equation, and while winger Luke Thomas is back on the grass, the weekend comes too soon.

Midfielder Grant Ward is in the frame to start for the first time since January 6 after overcoming a niggle which denied him a place in the team at Lincoln, having seemingly made his injury comeback in the previous fixture against Fleetwood Town.

“Grant Ward has got over that issue that kept him out of the Lincoln game,” Taylor added. “He’s had a couple more days training so hopefully he’ll be in contention.

“Whatever it was has settled down. We didn’t feel it was serious at the time but his history, the experience of the medical staff with Grant, made us make that decision to leave him out that weekend.”

 ?? Picture: Mat Mingo/Pinnacle ?? Brandon Aguilera celebrates scoring for Bristol Rovers against Exeter
Picture: Mat Mingo/Pinnacle Brandon Aguilera celebrates scoring for Bristol Rovers against Exeter

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