Bristol Rovers and Inigo Calderon told to fix "shambolic" weakness or League Two looms | OneFootball

Bristol Rovers are just about keeping their heads above water in the League One relegation battle but are threatened by this worrying trend

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Bristol Rovers’ flirting with relegation from League One stems from a “shambolic” away record, it has been claimed.

With eight games to go Rovers are just one place above the bottom four in the third tier, with the six-point gap to 21st placed Burton Albion able to be cut down to just three by Albion’s game in hand.

Whilst Rovers are in the driving seat to secure a spot in League One next term, Gasheads want to see their side rectify their troubles on the road.

Bristol Rovers’ away form is “shambolic”

Although currently six points clear of the relegation zone, Bristol Rovers – and their supporters – are acutely aware that they are still not safe from potential demotion to League Two.

Part of the reason why the Gas find themselves threatened by relegation is their lack of points earnt on the road, with Rovers picking up just 11 of their current points total of 42 away from home.

That is the second-worst record in the division, with only basement boys Shrewsbury Town picking up fewer points – although only just, with Shrewsbury earning 10 points on their travels.

As such, Rovers have garnered almost triple the amount of points at home as they have done away.

Football League World's resident Bristol Rovers pundit Ziggy Carter highlighted how if it wasn’t for the Gas’ strong home record, that they would firmly be in the relegation zone.

When asked to identify Bristol Rovers’ biggest weakness at the moment, Ziggy told Football League World: “I think our biggest weakness as a club at the moment is away games.

“It sounds quite funny to say, but there is a significant drop off when watching team performances away from home.

“At the Memorial Stadium we’re quite solid. I mean a week ago we beat Bolton and Huddersfield really comfortably.

“And then you used lose 5-0 to Lincoln, 1-0 to Crawley - a lot of the Crawley fans said that we were the side they've seen for years.

“We’re 10th highest in the league for home form, and away from home we’re 23rd, only winning 11 points, which is shambolic.”

Lack of confidence explains Bristol Rovers’ away woes

Ziggy then went on to hypothesise why his side were struggling on the road, suggesting that the issue was largely psychological.

However, Ziggy was at a loss to suggest a concrete way of turning Rovers' away fortunes around, believing the side to simply be lacking confidence when playing away from the Memorial Stadium.

He continued: “I think as I mentioned before that confidence would play a massive part in that, but it's hard to see how we can improve something like that.

“Because it's got to be something psychological, where they just don't feel that they can perform to the standards we do at home, away from home.

“I’m hoping that changes for next season, but we also need to keep the Memorial Stadium a fortress, which is the only real reason at the moment why we're not in a worse situation, because of our home record.”