Rival Watch

Bristol City skipper and central defender Louis Carey, fighting to be fit for tomorrow’s crunch match at home to relegated Rotherham, believes the Robins will have to win to seal promotion to the Championship.

Carey expects both Nottingham Forest, who are a point behind, and Blackpool, two points adrift, will win in the race for second place in League One.

‘I expect both of them to pick up the points but really we are not worried about them,’ said Carey.

‘At the end of the day we can’t even think about losing or drawing. We have to win the game and then it does not matter what they do.

‘We are not going to worry about them because I think they are going to win.’

The 30-year-old will find himself up against a team managed by a former team-mate.

Rotherham’s new manager Mark Robins had a highly successful loan spell with City in February and March, 2003.

‘I still say now that if he had stayed for the last two months of the season we would have got promotion,’ said Carey.

‘But you can’t say that for sure but at that time we couldn’t score and he came in and scored five in a short space of time.

‘If he had stayed with us I am sure we would have gone up.

‘I have got a lot of time for Robbo. He was a lovely geezer and a good player.

‘He knew a lot about football and I thought he would have got the job at Rotherham last time.

‘Speaking to him on the phone, he thought he was going to get it and the fans wanted him to get it but he has got a chance now.

‘Hopefully he can do the best for them he can, but not tomorrow.’

Striker Keigan Parker is playing a key role in Blackpool’s late promotion charge.

When he was kept out of the team by a combination of Andy Morrell, Scott Vernon and Ben Burgess, there were rumours he wanted to leave.

But now the Scot has regained his place, he is playing his best football of the campaign with 12 goals and reckons this year’s Seasiders squad is more than good enough to go up.

‘Sometimes I’ve been out of favour but the bottom line is that right now is the time to be in the team, with the games being so important and the play-offs live on Sky,’ said Parker.

‘I’ve had to be patient and it has been hard because the last couple of years prior to this I’ve had a good run in the team.

‘But with the investment, we’ve brought in a better calibre of player. It is a better team this season and I think when you play in a higher quality side it brings the best out of you. That’s obviously shown.

‘Looking at this Blackpool side, for all-round quality it is the best team I’ve played in by far.

‘When I was at St Johnstone we had one really good year when we got into Europe. We finished third behind the Old Firm and played Monaco.

‘But this side is better and it’s quite young as well. Barring a couple of over-30s in Claus (Jorgensen) and Michael Jackson, we are all about mid-20s so we’ve still got a couple of years being a very good team, I think.’

Source: Nottingham Evening Post