International Call Ups

Bristol Rovers team news pre-Barnsley with deadline day arrival Shaq Forde waiting on debut..By Daniel Hargraves

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Matt Taylor has confirmed that striker Shaq Forde is in contention to be available for Bristol Rovers at Barnsley this weekend after the 20-year-old signed late on deadline day last week.

Because of the Friday midday cut-off point to have new players registered in time for the following day's match, Forde was unavailable to feature in last Saturday's 2-0 win over Cambridge United whereas fellow deadline day arrival Gatlin O'Donkor arrived in time, making his Rovers debut from the bench.

Additionally, the former Leyton Orient loanee hadn't had time to even train with his new teammates before last weekend, where he was presented to the Mem crowd before the game.

However, after his first couple of days training at The Quarters this week, Taylor has revealed that Forde is in contention to feature at Oakwell on Saturday but warned that there is work to be done regarding the forward's fitness on the back of a disjointed pre-season.

"When it’s deadline day and as late as it was, he kind of comes and sits in the changing room on Saturday," the Gas manager reflected. "It’s a fresh face and you’re introducing yourself but then he’s had a few days training. We’re trying to get the balance now because we want him to be available for the weekend but we’re going to have to push him a bit physically.

"So he might be a bit leggy to start with but we have to push through a certain level of fitness to get him to where the rest of the group are because we don’t want our team to look any different at any stage, let alone when players come on, albeit new signings. So, we’ll get the balance right but he goes into contention to be on the pitch.

"Generally, you don't want to change a winning team and a team that put in a performance like they did at the weekend," Taylor added. "But you do want to get these players on the pitch as early as you possibly can so we'll try and find a balance.

"I don't think either are in a position to start the game just on the back of the amount of training they've had with us and previous training and game exposure. We'll try get the balance right but we'll always try and be reactive from the bench."

Elsewhere, there are no fresh injury concerns with Chris Martin and Joel Senior both still out for significant periods of time with a broken fibula and a serious hamstring tear respectively. Jamie Lindsay is also still sidelined with a knee ligament injury but is on the grass with a plan to have his workload built up over the course of next week.

With Saturday's trip to South Yorkshire one of just three League One matches still on amid the international break, Rovers' have taken a slight hit with Kamil Conteh and Michael Forbes away on international duty with Sierra Leone and Northern Ireland Under-21s respectively.

Forbes hadn't made the last three league squads while Conteh has played every minute in League One so far this campaign which means Taylor will have to consider how he re-jigs the midfield, especially after the trio of the 21-year-old, Jake Garrett and Grant Ward worked so well against Cambridge.