Matthew Lund's Rovers loan deal is delayed by Achilles flare-up

Bristol Rovers are to wait on the results of a precautionary scan before officially completing the loan deal for Stoke City midfielder Matthew Lund.

Lund, 21, missed Saturday's opening friendly against the Royal Marines in Exmouth because of a niggling Achilles injury that flared up after a return to pre-season training on Thursday.

The complaint is not thought to be serious enough to jeopardise the midfielder's six-month loan move – but Lund was sent for a scan yesterday to determine the exact nature of the problem and Rovers will await the results before signing all the paperwork.

Young goalkeeper Conor Gough, meanwhile, is relishing the chance to start the season as Mark McGhee's first-choice stopper.

Gough, 19, made his senior debut in the final game of last season in the 4-0 defeat at Dagenham & Redbridge in the same week that he completed a move from Charlton.

He is now in line to start the season for Rovers in the Capital One League Cup clash at Ipswich on August 14 after senior goalkeeper Scott Bevan suffered a setback in his recovery from a wrist injury.

McGhee has since challenged the youngster to stake his claim to start the campaign by impressing during pre-season.

Gough said: "It's unfortunate for Scott, but it's an opportunity for me to show what I can do.

"Obviously, starting the season in goal at Ipswich is my aim, so I'm just going to do my best and see what happens.

"It's up to the manager at the end of the day. I'm going to try and impress during pre-season and hope that the manager will decide that I am ready.

"The chance has probably come sooner than I would have expected. I only made my senior debut in the Football League on the last day of the season, so I am already grateful to the manager for that.

"We lost 4-0, so it wasn't the best start, but it was a great experience and something that wouldn't have happened if I'd still been at Charlton."

"I played 20 games in the Conference South last season, but I already know that playing for Bristol Rovers is a big step-up from that."

Gough began the process of trying to stake a claim by keeping a clean sheet in Saturday's opening friendly against the Royal Marines. He also saved three of five penalties in a practice shoot-out.

"I've always been not too bad at penalties, so I was pleased to save three out of five," said Gough.

"I had two crosses to come for in the game and one shot to save, so there wasn't that much for me to do. I should imagine the challenge will be a bit tougher in some of the games we have ahead of us."

Yeovil travel to Poole for a friendly tonight (7.45pm).

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