Bristol Rovers have options up front despite 'difficult market' after serious striker injuryBristol Rovers have options up front despite 'difficult market' after serious striker injury
Bristol Rovers have options up front despite 'difficult market' after serious striker injury | Getty Images
Will Bristol Rovers be able to find a new striker after a serious injury ended Chris Martin’s season?
Bristol Rovers have been struggling for goals all season – but a problem has now become a disaster with the news that leading goalscorer Chris Martin will miss the rest of the season after undergoing surgery for a knee injury.
The 35-year-old forward’s injury was not initially expected to be severe, but having missed the recent defeats to Crawley Town and Lincoln City, it has now been announced that his campaign is over, leaving the Gas with a significant problem.
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With Promise Omochere also out for the season due to a hamstring injury, head coach Inigo Calderon is left with Ruel Sotiriou, who jointly leads the scoring charts with five strikes but was unavailable against Crawley due to an international call-up, as the only senior striker left – so will the club try to find a new forward to help them fend off relegation from League One?
‘A difficult market’ for Bristol Rovers
Calderon has already been discussed the chances of adding a free agent striker to the squad, and has admitted that it won’t be easy for the Gas to find a suitable player.
“We'll have a look, but it's a really, really difficult market,” the former Brighton defender said. “Even in the January window, I said that we have to try to get the best out of the players we already have in the building because at the end, it's a difficult market to bring someone… A free agent, we don't know where he is now. Maybe he's on the beach.”
Calderon’s scepticism about finding a new striker is, perhaps, warranted. Clubs can still sign free agents despite the league being outside of a transfer window, but the list of strikers available largely consists of ageing players, those with significant injury concerns, or players who are searching for a club after failing to make the grade elsewhere.
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There are some well-known names on the market. Connor Wickham hasn’t played since 2024 thanks to a string of serious injuries but has been training with Watford’s academy team to keep fit in case an opportunity comes along – the 31-year-old was viewed as one of the sharpest strikers in the EFL before fitness problems began plaguing him, and if he could pass a medical his experience could be valuable in a tense relegation battle.
Another name familiar to EFL fans who seems to be available is Benik Afobe – the former Wolves and Stoke City striker, now 32, last played in England for Millwall in the 2022/23 season and has since had short stints in the Middle East, most recently in the Qatari Second Division. He seems to be without a club and if he’s returned to the UK, he could offer both know-how and physicality.
30-year-old Jordy Hiwula, who has played with eight different clubs in League One, is also available having failed to find a team for the 2024/25 season since leaving Morecambe at the end of last season – he could offer some depth, but the former England Under-19 international has struggled for goals in recent years, with just two strikes across the last three years.
In short, options are limited. There are question marks around most of the players who are available, but Calderon surely needs at least one extra body given the current state of the options available to him.
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Chris Martin’s absence leaves a huge hole
With Scotsman Martin out of the picture alongside Omochere, Sotiriou is now the only senior striker available to Calderon, although he was away on international duty with Cyprus for the damaging 1-0 defeat to Crawley Town at the weekend.
Young forward Gatlin O’Donkor, who has scored twice after arriving on loan from Oxford United, is fit again after missing time with a hamstring injury, but the only other options up front are teenager Ollie Dewsbury and Cardiff City loanee Michael Reindorf, who has yet to appear for the Gas and has been left out of match day squads for the past six matches.
With so many players out, midfielder Isaac Hutchinson started in the number nine role against Crawley before O’Donkor came on as a substitute in the second half. An experienced addition along the lines of Afobe or Wickham could be a key signing if their fitness allowed them to play a meaningful part.
Former Scotland international Martin, meanwhile, may have been reaching the end of his career, but still managed to score 16 goals last season and was once again the club’s leading marksman over the course of the current campaign, and his quality will be sorely missed up front. Martin’s contract with the club is also expiring at the end of the season, so he may have played his last match at the Memorial Stadium.
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With the defeat to Crawley, Bristol Rovers remain six points and one place above the League One relegation zone, but Burton Albion could close that gap to three points if they win that game in hand. With just eight matches left, the Gas are set for a nervy run-in – and a new striker could make all the difference. Whether Calderon can find a satisfactory option in that ‘difficult’ market remains to be seen.
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