Striker on Cheltenham and his time at Rovers
Tom Eaves will appear in a Rovers shirt for the final time on Saturday, hoping to score on his farewell appearance to add to his tally of seven in the 17 games he has played for the club during his loan spell from Bolton Wanderers.
That loan period expires after the game at Cheltenham and will not be extended as Bolton’s recently appointed manager, Dougie Freedman, has yet to see Tom play a competitive match.
“It would be nice to sign off with a goal, or even three!” said Tom, “but the most important thing is that the team picks up three points.
“I’m going back to Bolton not really knowing what the future holds for me, but it’s in my hands and will be determined by my performances. I’ll just have to wait and see what happens, but being with Rovers has been very good for my confidence as I hadn’t played league football on a regular basis before.
“It was nice to score a few goals as well, and I leave the club with many memories.
“I really have enjoyed being here and the players, staff and supporters, have been brilliant to me.
“I have enjoyed playing at the Memorial Stadium and scoring goals for Rovers, and in particular I look back at the Torquay game, when I scored twice, with great memories.”
Although he’s only been here a short while he’s played under both Mark McGhee and John Ward, and has nothing but praise for the management team at the club.
“I have great respect for Mark McGhee and also for John Ward as both of them gave me a chance and have been really good to me.
“In addition, Shaun North and Marcus Stewart have also treated me very well and I have appreciated the additional hours they have put in with me on the training ground.”
His penultimate game in the blue and white quarters came at Aldershot on Boxing Day, when a battling performance saw Rovers earn a point from a game played in atrocious conditions.
“The pitch wasn’t helpful at all, was like a quagmire out there and it was definitely a battle, as opposed to a game of football. However I thought that we showed good determination to get back on level terms after twice falling behind.”
Had that same level of determination been in evidence against York City a couple of weeks back, then perhaps the scoreline at Bootham Crescent might have been more palatable.
“The performance at York can best be described as a lacklustre, and was totally different to the performance at Aldershot, when the lads put in a far more energetic display.
“The point gives us something to build on going into Saturday’s game at Cheltenham. Although they are doing really well, and are a strong team, we can take heart from the performance at the Recreation Ground and will be looking to get three points.”
The striker leaves when we are at the bottom of League Two.
“It’s a disappointing time to leave, but I’m sure they won’t be there for long. There are a lot of games to go and I’m sure that the lads can get enough points on the board to get out of the bottom two very quickly.”