# 2017–18 Bristol Rovers F.C. season

The 2017–18 season is the 135th season in Bristol Rovers' history and their 90th in the English Football League. Rovers will compete in the third tier of English football, League One as well as three cup competitions, FA Cup, EFL Cup and EFL Trophy.

## Competitions
### Friendlies

As of 2 June 2017, Bristol Rovers have announced thirteen pre-season friendlies against Hull City in Portugal Corinthian Casuals, Yate Town, Melksham Town, Weston-super-Mare, Mangotsfield United, Salisbury, Gloucester City, Taunton Town, Forest Green Rovers, Yeovil Town, Bath City and West Bromwich Albion.

### League One
#### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 11 | Bradford City | 46 | 18 | 9 | 19 | 57 | 67 | −10 | 63 |
| 12 | Blackpool | 46 | 15 | 15 | 16 | 60 | 55 | +5 | 60 |
| 13 | Bristol Rovers | 46 | 16 | 11 | 19 | 60 | 66 | −6 | 59 |
| 14 | Fleetwood Town | 46 | 16 | 9 | 21 | 59 | 68 | −9 | 57 |
| 15 | Doncaster Rovers | 46 | 13 | 17 | 16 | 52 | 52 | 0 | 56 |

#### Result summary

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
Last updated: 13 January 2018. Source: Statto.com

#### Results by matchday

| Matchday | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 |
| Ground | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | H | A |
| Result | L | L | W | W | L | W | L | L | W | L | W | W | L | L | L | W | L | L | L | W | W | L | L | D | D | W | D | W | W | L | W | W | L | D | W | D | L | D | W | L | D | D | L | D | D | D |
| Position | 18 | 24 | 18 | 11 | 14 | 12 | 12 | 15 | 14 | 16 | 14 | 12 | 13 | 13 | 16 | 13 | 15 | 16 | 18 | 15 | 15 | 17 | 17 | 17 | 17 | 17 | 17 | 14 | 11 | 13 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 13 | 13 |

#### Matches

On 21 June 2017, the league fixtures were announced.

### FA Cup

On 16 October 2017, Bristol Rovers were away to Notts County in the first round.

### EFL Cup

On 16 June 2017, Bristol Rovers were drawn at home to Cambridge United in the first round. Rovers were drawn away in the second round against Fulham. Another away tie against Wolverhampton Wanderers was confirmed for the third round.

### EFL Trophy

On 12 July 2017, the group stage draw was completed with Rovers facing Swindon Town, West Ham United U23s and Wycombe Wanderers in Southern Group C.
| Pos | Lge | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | ACA | West Ham United U23s (Q) | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 3 | +3 | 6 | Round 2 |
| 2 | L2 | Swindon Town (Q) | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 5 | +2 | 6 | Round 2 |
| 3 | L1 | Bristol Rovers (E) | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 3 | |
| 4 | L2 | Wycombe Wanderers (E) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 6 | −5 | 0 | |

## Transfers
### Transfers in

| Date from | Position | Name | From | Fee |
| 1 July 2017 | DF | Ghassan Abu Hassan | Free agent | Free |
| 1 July 2017 | DF | Rollin Menayese | Weston-super-Mare | Free |
| 1 July 2017 | CM | Liam Sercombe | Oxford United | Undisclosed |
| 6 July 2017 | GK | Sam Slocombe | Blackpool | Free |
| 6 July 2017 | GK | Adam Smith | Northampton Town | Free |
| 17 July 2017 | CF | Tom Nichols | Peterborough United | Undisclosed |
| 19 July 2017 | CB | Tom Broadbent | Hayes & Yeading United | Free |
| 18 August 2017 | MF | Kenan Dünnwald | TSG Sprockhövel | Free |
| 18 August 2017 | FW | Kunle Otudeko | Marlow | Free |
| 24 August 2017 | FW | Rhys Kavanagh | Newport County | Compensation |

### Transfers out

| Date from | Position | Nationality | Name | To | Fee | Ref. |
| 1 July 2017 | CB | | Peter Hartley | Blackpool | Undisclosed | |
| 1 July 2017 | LM | | Cristian Montaño | Port Vale | Free | |

### Loans in

| Start date | Position | Name | From | End date |
| 14 July 2017 | LB | Marc Bola | Arsenal | 30 June 2018 |
| 4 August 2017 | CB | Ryan Sweeney | Stoke City | 30 June 2018 |
| 4 August 2017 | CF | Dom Telford | Stoke City | 30 June 2018 |

### Loans out

| Start date | Position | Name | To | End date |
| 9 September 2017 | GK | Thom Jonkerman | Mangotsfield United | 7 October 2017 |
| 25 October 2017 | LB | Mohammad Baghdadi | Dorchester Town | 28 December 2017 |
| 1 November 2017 | CB | Ben Morgan | Frome Town | 29 November 2017 |
| 6 November 2017 | DF | Sam Blake | Yate Town | 4 December 2017 |
| 6 November 2017 | GK | Thom Jonkerman | Cirencester Town | 4 December 2017 |
| 23 November 2017 | GK | Alexis André Jr. | Paulton Rovers | 24 December 2017 |
| 23 November 2017 | CM | Charlie Ten-Grotenhuis | Paulton Rovers | 24 December 2017 |
| 28 November 2017 | CB | Jonny Burn | York City | 6 January 2018 |
| 1 December 2017 | MF | Josh Brace | Farnborough | Work experience |
| 1 December 2017 | FW | Lewis Ellington | Farnborough | 1 January 2018 |
| 1 December 2017 | FW | James Spruce | Cinderford Town | Work experience |
| 5 December 2017 | GK | Liam Armstrong | Paulton Rovers | Work experience |
| 8 December 2017 | LB | Michael Kelly | Bath City | 13 January 2018 |
| 14 December 2017 | CF | Rhys Kavanagh | Bath City | 20 January 2018 |
* ↑ On 28 November, Mohammad Baghdadi's loan at Dorchester Town was extended by a further month.

## Squad statistics

    Source:
    Numbers in parentheses denote appearances as substitute.
    Players with squad numbers struck through and marked † left the club during the playing season.
    Players with names in italics and marked * were on loan from another club for the whole of their season with Bristol Rovers.
    Players listed with no appearances have been in the matchday squad but only as unused substitutes.
    Key to positions: GK – Goalkeeper; DF – Defender; MF – Midfielder; FW – Forward
| No. | Pos. | Nat. | Name | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | | |
| No. | Pos. | Nat. | Name | League | League | FA Cup | FA Cup | EFL Cup | EFL Cup | EFL Trophy | EFL Trophy | Total | Total | Discipline | Discipline |
| 1 | GK | ENG | Sam Slocombe | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | DF | ENG | Daniel Leadbitter | 14 (2) | 0 | 0 (1) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 (1) | 0 | 17 (4) | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 3 | DF | ENG | Lee Brown | 21 (1) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 24 (1) | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| 4 | DF | WAL | Tom Lockyer | 24 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 28 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| 5 | DF | ENG | Jonny Burn | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 6 | DF | IRL | Ryan Sweeney * | 16 (4) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 20 (4) | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| 7 | MF | ENG | Liam Sercombe | 26 (2) | 6 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 32 (2) | 10 | 4 | 0 |
| 8 | MF | ENG | Ollie Clarke | 23 (3) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 27 (3) | 1 | 8 | 0 |
| 9 | FW | WAL | Ellis Harrison | 24 (3) | 7 | 0 (1) | 0 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 28 (4) | 9 | 6 | 0 |
| 10 † | MF | WAL | Billy Bodin | 20 (1) | 9 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 23 (1) | 11 | 1 | 0 |
| 11 | FW | ENG | Tom Nichols | 14 (14) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 (1) | 0 | 1 (1) | 1 | 18 (16) | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| 14 | MF | ENG | Chris Lines | 19 (6) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 24 (6) | 1 | 5 | 0 |
| 15 | DF | ENG | James Clarke | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 16 | DF | ENG | Tom Broadbent | 12 (2) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 15 (2) | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 17 | MF | WAL | Ryan Broom | 0 (2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 (1) | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 (3) | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 18 | FW | ENG | Dom Telford * | 0 (12) | 1 | 0 (1) | 0 | 0 (1) | 0 | 3 | 2 | 3 (14) | 3 | 4 | 0 |
| 19 | MF | ENG | Byron Moore | 3 (4) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 (2) | 0 | 3 | 0 | 7 (6) | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 20 | DF | ENG | Marc Bola * | 9 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 14 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 21 | GK | ENG | Adam Smith | 17 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 20 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 22 | DF | WAL | Joe Partington | 19 (1) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 (2) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 22 (3) | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| 23 | FW | ENG | Bernard Mensah | 0 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 24 | MF | ENG | Stuart Sinclair | 16 (5) | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 20 (5) | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| 30 | FW | IRL | Rory Gaffney | 16 (10) | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 (3) | 0 | 1 (1) | 0 | 18 (14) | 6 | 2 | 0 |
| 31 | DF | ENG | Alfie Kilgour | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 32 | MF | ENG | Luke Russe | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 (1) | 0 | 1 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 37 | DF | WAL | Rollin Menayese | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 (1) | 0 | 2 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 39 | MF | ENG | Cameron Hargreaves | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 (2) | 0 | 0 (2) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 41 | DF | SCO | Michael Kelly | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 44 | GK | FRA | Alexis André Jr. | 0 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 48 | FW | ENG | Kunle Otudeko | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 49 | MF | GER | Kenan Dünnwald | 0 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 (1) | 0 | 0 (2) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 50 | MF | ENG | James Spruce | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 51 | FW | ENG | Rhys Kavanagh | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |