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by Adam Stubbings

Rovers are in dire need of a win to arrest an alarming slide towards the bottom four, coming up against a Millwall side in good form and well placed in the League One table.

The 1-0 loss at Barnsley last time out was the fourth defeat in succession, and has seen a gap open up above of six points meaning Rovers head up a cut adrift group of eight relegation battlers. Seven of the team's nine league wins this season have come against the seven sides behind us, and results against the better clubs will have to improve if Darren Ferguson is to avoid a dog fight for survival over the last dozen or so games.

Four defeats in a row, three of those at home and two to local rivals, and no home win in five since the dramatic late comeback against Crewe in December. These facts of the form book suggest that the odds are stacked against us going into the weekend's fixture.

With just one defeat in their last eight league outings, and five away victories on the spin, the Lions represent a stern test of Rovers' resolve and fortitude, with Ferguson mired in his first properly bad spell since taking over. Neil Harris' side have made superb progress up the table to move into 5th, six points shy of automatic promotion and in the mix going into a crucial phase of the season.

The head-to-head stats don't make for much better reading either, with Millwall unbeaten in the last six. That run includes a 2-0 win at The Den when the sides last clashed back in October and Rovers, struggling mightily to find the back of the net of late, have not managed a single goal in the last four meetings either. Our last victory came in a 2-1 Championship home win in 2010, with fleeting loan star David Healy scoring the winner.

Conor Grant made a welcome return at Barnsley and Lynden Gooch has extended his loan spell at the club, whilst veterans Andy Butler and James Coppinger are pushing for starts after returning on the bench last Saturday. Whatever changes Ferguson does opt to make for this game, he needs to find a way to get the strikers back among the goals, or this loss of form will quickly turn into a late season slump that has become all too familiar from Rovers in recent seasons.
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