I was among hundreds of Gasheads who made a wasted journey to Exeter last week, but one of several people who was glad the game was called off was former Rovers star Marcus Stewart.

He told the Exeter Express and Star that "he was pleased the encounter with Rovers was called off due to the wet weather as it gives him a chance to play against his former club in the rearranged game."

Steward had previously made a comeback from injury against Millwall but only lasted 10 minutes. He said: "I was going into the Rovers game with no doubts over my fitness whatsoever.

"We want to get back in action as soon as we can after losing on Saturday (to Stockport) and it was a good opportunity to do that against Rovers.

"But from a personal point of view it gives me the chance to be available the next time we play that match. It will also give Adam Stansfield a chance as well so there are bonuses to the game being called off.

"Personally I don't want to miss any game at my age and at this stage of the season given the position we are in.

"I am quite strong-minded and just get on with my job. I kind of enjoy the challenge of a relegation battle — that is how you have to approach it.

"I want to be involved in every game I can to try and help this club out of the situation we are in at the moment."

"We have got a good group of lads here and a fabulous manager and we have given ourselves the best chance of getting out of trouble."

Paul Trollope hoped that the Exeter cancellation would work in Rovers' favor when they faced Colchester United last Saturday.

The Pirates would have been missing up to five players had the clash at St James's Park gone ahead. But heavy rain during the build-up to the game left the surface waterlogged and referee David Phillips called the match off at 6pm.

Rovers would have been without Chris Lines, Danny Coles, Jo Kuffour and Wayne Brown for the game against the Grecians - and also had worries over Byron Anthony, who suffered an injury in training.

Trollope told the Bristol Evening Post: "The soft tissue injuries sustained by Chris and Jo are probably taking a wee bit longer to heal than we first thought. We had hoped that both would have been back for the Exeter game, but they were still experiencing a little bit of soreness over the weekend."

The previous Saturday Gillingham claimed what the Kent Messenger called "a deserved three points against Bristol Rovers as Jackson netted in the second minute of time added on - his 15th of the season.

"Jackson's goal handed the Gills their first win in 11 and kept them clear of the League 1 relegation places. It was a deserved win for the Gills, who had seen a series of chances go begging. Luck didn't seem to be on their side as with just two minutes to go Jackson was denied by the post.

"It was a good performance," said delighted manager Mark Stimson. "I made a couple of changes from last week and we deserved the three points as we created a few chances.

"It was pleasing as we had waited too long to get this win. We've been thinking about it and talking about it but it's nice to get it out of the way.

Jackson came off the bench to score the winning goal which ended a run of four straight matches without a goal for the Gills.

Stimson told the Messenger: "You can see he's a natural striker because he picked the ball up and turned and there was only one thing on his mind, he wanted to hit the target. To see him scoring a goal in the Rainham End was a nice sight to see."

Gillingham were the brighter of the two teams going forward from the off and Rene Howe should have opened the scoring two minutes before the break, but he skied the cut-back from Chris Dickson over the bar.

Loan signing Dickson, formerly with Rovers earlier this season, was doing his best to get Gillingham going in attack but he couldn't find the target either. He lashed an effort wide moments before Howe's chance went begging.

The Kent Messenger reported: "With an hour gone Gills manager Mark Stimson made changes with Dennis Oli and Simeon Jackson both coming on. The Gills played the final half hour with a three-man attack.

"The Gills dominated the latter stages but still the vital goal wouldn't arrive. Jackson again came close with five minutes remaining but couldn't keep his shot down.

"In the dying minutes Jackson picked up the ball and drove at goal but 'keeper Rhys Evans got enough on the shot to send it crashing into the base of the post.

"With 92 minutes gone Dickson flicked on a ball into Jackson's path and he did the rest, with a powerful shot into the bottom corner to hand Gillingham a much-needed boost."