Rovers assistant looks forward to the visit to Plymouth

John Spicer, James Hayter and Paul Heffernan were all on the mark as Rovers banished any lingering relegation fears with their biggest ever win at Home Park. Rovers No 2 Richard O'Kelly admits, however, that the club could be catching the Pilgrims at the wrong time following their 1-0 win over Middlesbrough at the Riverside at the weekend. "Middlesbrough will have been looking to give new manager Gordon Strachan a winning start but Plymouth went up there and turned them over," he said. "It is forced to have given Plymouth a huge boost because Middlesbrough are a formidable home side. "Although we did the double over them last season, under Paul Sturrock they are well organised and very disciplined and they've got three or four players who can cause you problems. "Jamie Mackie, who scored their goal at the Riverside, is always a threat because he chaces everything. "You've got Alan Judge on the wing and he's got certain qualities about him, "Carl Fletcher is suspended which is fortunate for us because he can certainly influence games. "Three of their back-four are young players who are on loan from Premiership clubs. "We knew all of them could do it at League One level but we didn't know whether they could do it in the Championship. But the reports that we've had suggest that they've all stepped up to the plate and are really performing in a very tough division." O'Kelly is aware that the third-bottom Pilgrims, who have banked 10 points from their last six games, could move level on points with Rovers were they to win, but remains calm. "We may be only three points off the relegation zone, but look at it another way and we are only nine points off the play-offs - it's that sort of division," he said. "Every game you play in this division is winnable. If you hit top form on the day you've got a good chance of getting a result. "We've already seen that this season. We've played the top two - Newcastle and West Bromwich Albion - and I know that we lost them both but there wasn't much in it, "We've played teams at the bottom like Ipswich and you wouldn't say that there was a lot of difference. "The division is very even. The cream might rise to the top after Christmas, but at the moment is probably the most competitive league in Europe." Skipper Martin Woods (groin), striker Billy Sharpe (knee) and Simon Gillett (hamstring) will all be looking to prove their fitness today.