Fleetwood Town 0 Bristol Rovers 0: Simon Grayson's first game in charge at Highbury ends with honours even

There were plenty of encouraging signs for Grayson throughout the 90 minutes, but he and his assistant David Dunn will surely have expected a more positive outcome against a Rovers side who had picked up just a single point from their previous six matches.

Ahead of today’s game, Grayson had been forced into a tweak as he picked his first Town starting XI.

Charlie Mulgrew was suspended following his red card at Oxford United last time out, so he was replaced at the heart of the defence by Harrison Holgate.

Midfielder Dan Batty was thrown in for an immediate debut following his switch from Hull City during the week, while Josh Morris stepped up from the bench.

Mark Duffy and Harvey Saunders were dropped to the bench by the new manager.

Unsurprisingly, it was a positive, up-tempo start to the game from Town, as they pressurised under-fire Rovers.

Danny Andrew’s early piledriver was deflected off target, then still inside the opening three minutes, Callum Connolly fired straight at keeper Joe Day from the resulting corner.

Skipper Paddy Madden saw a powerful drive blocked by Alfie Kilgour, while at the other end, Rovers’ fragile confidence was highlighted by Sam Nicholson’s wayward shot from the edge of the box.

Rovers eventually gained a foothold and striker Brandon Hanlan came close to finishing off a smart move, before the visitors almost struck just before the half-hour mark.

After meeting Ben Liddle’s through ball, James Daly left Andrew for dead before hooking a left-footed shot just wide.

It had been a hugely encouraging start to the game for Grayson, but by half-time, the score remained goalless and it was Rovers who had created the most clear-cut of the opportunities during that 45 minutes.

Town came mighty close to an opener two minutes into the second period.

Kyle Vassell teed up Madden, and his drive from 18 yards looked destined for the corner, only for Day to produce a brilliant fingertip save.

Minutes later, Day was tasked again as he got down well to save Janoi Donacien’s left-footed piledriver with the game still very much up for grabs as the hour mark passed.

Rovers highlighted they were very much in contention with Kilgour planting a header wide and Alex Cairns being forced to palm away George Williams’ narrow-angled effort.

Nicholson also went close when he guided a sidefooted effort into the side-netting.

Fleetwood Town: Cairns, Donacien, Connolly, Holgate, Andrew, J Morris (McKay 80), Rossiter, Batty (Biggins 80), Camps (Duffy 65), Vassell (Saunders 65), Madden. Subs not used: Coleman, Hill, S Morris.

Bristol Rovers: Day, Ehmer, Kilgour, Baldwin, Williams, Grant, Liddle (McCormick 64), Nicholson, Leahy, Daly (Rodman 72), Hanlan (Ayunga 83). Subs not used: Van Stappershoef, Tutonda, Harries, Oztumer.

Referee: Sebastian Stockbridge

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