THE Pirates will be looking to steer their ship straight back on track having lost to Carlisle United 3-2 on Saturday, having lead 1-0.

The Carling Cup may well be a good place for Paul Trollope's side to do just that as, over the last couple of years, Rovers have proved to have a liking for the knock-out format.

They reached the quarter-final of the FA Cup last season, beating Fulham and Southampton along the way and this was after a final appearance the previous year in the Johnston Paint Trophy.

Their attack has been bolstered over the summer with the acquisitions of Darryl Duffy from Swansea as well as former Hornet, Wayne Andrews.

Their job will be to work a partnership with the usually clinical Rickie Lambert, who scored 19 goals last season, scoring six of them in their FA cup run.

Lambert has already opened his scoring account for the season; it only took a quarter of an hour to find the net against Carlisle United on Saturday.

Boss Paul Trollope

Rovers have a strong Welsh core running through their side with Byron Anthony, David Pipe and Joe Jacobson all coming from the principality.

This has been added to with the addition of midfielder Anthony Pulis from Stoke City. This strengthens a midfield unit which includes Craig Disley, who scored nine goals in the last campaign, and Northern Irish international Jeff Hughes, who signed on a free transfer from Peterborough United.

TEAM NEWS

Full back Ryan Green missed the opening day game but should be back to face the Golden Boys. However, fellow defenders Joe Jacobson and Danny Coles won't make the trip to Vicarage Road as they recover from knee injuries.

LAST TIME THE TEAMS MET

It has been over 10 years since we last played the Pirates. It was a gripping game, with the spoils changing hands many times during the 90 minutes.

Gifton Noel-Williams opened the scoring on 18 minutes, followed swiftly by another, this time from Ronny Rosenthal.

With the 'Orns 2-0 up at the break, things were looking good for Graham Taylor's men.

Little did he know what the second half would bring. With little over five minutes gone, Tom White got one back for the West Country side.

Continued pressure by the Pirates eventually paid off in the 81st minute when Jamie Cureton leveled things up, and with five minutes to go, it seemed Watford had thrown away their two goal advantage with a poor second half display.

However, with two minutes or normal time to go, Watford's Tommy Mooney won the match in spectacular fashion, scoring to send Vicarage road into raptures.

HEAD TO HEAD

In the 84 times these teams have met since 1921, The Hornets have come out on top 45 times (54%) to Bristol Rovers' 24 wins (28%), with draws on 15 occasions (18%).

This will be the first time these teams have met outside of league football.

HORNESTBET:
Home win - 7/10
Draw - 5/2
Away win - 17/4

Scorecast: Jay DeMerit to score first and Watford to win 2-0 - 100/1.

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