“He's not trained this week at all, but we're going to look at him this afternoon and get him on the grass,"

Bristol Rovers boss Steve Evans has given an update on striker Ellis Harrison’s availability for Saturday, revealing that “he’s not trained this week,” but a call will still be made on whether the Welshman can feature away to Fleetwood Town.

Harrison wasn’t included in the matchday squad against Swindon Town due to injury, with the Gas going on to draw 0-0 with the Robins to stop the rot following five straight defeats.

Now looking ahead, Evans said it’s touch and go whether Harrison will be involved for the trip up North. “Yeah, Ellis just has a problem in the bottom of his foot, and it's whether he can weight-bear or not," he told media on Thursday.

“He's not trained this week at all, but we're going to look at him this afternoon and get him on the grass, and then we'll make a decision from there. But yeah, we're pretty understocked in terms of the availability of certain players, but we want to focus on the ones that can play at Fleetwood and not the ones that can't.”

Another important player who won’t be available this weekend is centre back Kofi Balmer, having picked up back-to-back booking against Salford City and Swindon to take him to five for the season. That means he’s suspended for the trip to Fleetwood, leaving Evans without one of his key performers since he joined the club.

“Kofi's been a big player for us,” Evans said. "He's been terrific since he walked into the football club. He's a centre half, he gets five cautions, you know, that's to be expected, it happens.

“There'll be a lot of players that will start to miss one in two games around about now, but you know, Kofi's been an instrumental part of our winning culture here. But we've got other players that can slot in there, Keenan Gough came on on Saturday and did very well.”

In attack, it’s no secret that Rovers have struggled for goals of late, scoring just four times in October. Bobby Kamwa became another concern as he had to be substituted just eight minutes after coming on against Swindon, leaving him at risk for this weekend.

Meanwhile, Arvin Appiah has had to bide his time on the sidelines, playing just 41 league minutes since joining earlier in the month. But Evans told Bristol Live that he’s now good to go and could get an opportunity this weekend.

“Yeah, Arvin's ready to play. I think I said 10 days ago he'd be nine or ten days, so does that mean he'll start at Fleetwood? That depends on the shape that we decide to go with.

“We've worked on two different shapes this week, one with Arvin in it, one with him not in it, and then we'll make that decision after we've trained tomorrow.”