Darrell Clarke fielded a strong side for Rovers’ trip to Barnet in the first round of the Emirates FA Cup, with Stefan Payne and Tom Nichols starting up front and Stuart Sinclair slotting into midfield.

The Cup hasn’t been a happy hunting ground for the Gas over the past few years with Rovers bowing out to non-league opposition in the form of Barrow last year, and were even more ignominiously dispatched by Chesham in 2016.

Another upset looked on the cards at The Hive on Saturday when Sinclair was shown a straight red for a two-footed lunge in the sixth minute. It was a bad tackle but in Sinclair’s defence he appeared to slip into it rather than show any real malice.

Rovers’ woes were compounded ten minutes later when Barnet took the lead after Craig Robson headed home a long cross.

But our recent upturn in resolve was apparent as the ten men stuck to their task and clawed themselves back into the game. The second half saw Rovers take the tie to the opposition with Nichols in particular causing the home side problems.

The Rovers striker was brought down in the box shortly after the hour mark and substitute Chris Lines confidently stroked home the spot kick to level the match. Both sides had chances to win as the game stretched but it was Rovers who came closest, with Kyle Bennett, Liam Sercombe and Lines all denied by the frame of the goal.

The game ended 1-1 with the replay on Wednesday 21 November at the Mem.

Should we beat Barnet a tasty tie against an old foe, Jim Gannon’s National League North side Stockport, awaits.

Rovers named a mix of youth and experience for our Checkatrade Trophy tie away to Exeter on Tuesday. Summer signing Tareiq Holmes-Dennis got valuable game time and youngsters Connor Jones, Zain Walker and Theo Widdrington all made their senior debuts in a match we lost 2-0. However, we still go into the pot for the knockout stages drawn on Friday.

The Gas entertain Scunthorpe on Saturday.

We look to put further daylight between us and League One’s relegation places after a run of form which has yielded some positivity over recent weeks.