The striker has been limited to just three substitute appearances so far this season

Bristol Rovers are said to be in talks with Port Vale about a permanent transfer for Ryan Loft, who is in the final year of his contract. Loft is also thought to be attracting considerable attention from at least one other League One club before of Friday’s transfer deadline. The 25-year-old has been mentioned as a possible departure this summer and will fall further down the pecking order at the Mem if Rovers sign Jonson Clarke-Harris from Peterborough United.

Whether or not the club are waiting to recruit a striker before allowing Loft to depart is unclear but time is running out for a deal to be done with the window set to shut at 11pm tomorrow evening. Should a transfer away from the Gas not be finalised in time, it is understood that the forward will not sign a new deal at the Mem if put on the table, and that this season will be his last in blue-and-white quarters. Having played 56 times for the Gas since signing from Scunthorpe United in January 2022, Loft has scored seven goals, averaging 44 minutes per appearance.

Moreover, the Englishman was absent from the matchday squad to face Wycombe Wanderers last Saturday, the second time this season he hasn’t made the bench with just 37 minutes played. Loft currently sits behind the likes of John Marquis, Jevani Brown and Aaron Collins in the striker department, although all are still waiting to open their goal scoring accounts for the season. Therefore, opportunities in Joey Barton’s side now look set to be slim.

‘The best possible news’ – Former Bristol Rovers defender Nick Anderton says he’s free of cancer

A former defender for Bristol Rovers has shared ‘the best possible news [he] could have hoped for’ – that he is free of bone cancer.

Nick Anderton was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a rare form of cancer in July 2022 after experiencing a sore knee.

The 27-year-old has needed 28 weeks of chemotherapy as well as an operation on his knee.

The disease led Nick to announce his retirement from football in April after a nine-year career that featured spells with Bristol Rovers, Carlisle, and Barrow.

But in an update posted on the former player’s social media on 1 September, Nick said he had received the ‘best possible news’.

He said: “My first scans have come back with the best possible news I could have hoped for, no sign of active disease.

“This journey is by no means over as the cancer can return and I’m going to be checked every few months for the foreseeable.”

Speaking about his journey, he added: “Not how I imagined my mid-twenties to pan out, but it is what it is. Never did I think a sore knee would turn out to be bone cancer.

“I don’t think it’s really possible to put into words how the last year has been but I’m blessed to still be here battling on.

“Full knee along with 12cm of my femur replaced with metal, I got to keep my knee cap though. Close to 70 nights stayed in hospital, a few infections just to keep me on my toes.”

Nick began his footballing career at Preston before joining Barrow in 2016. He then went onto play for Blackpool, Accrington and Carlisle before moving to Bristol Rovers in May 2021.

He was part of the squad that won the club promotion to League One in 2022.

Speaking about his future, Nick said he is going to ‘try and enjoy some normal life with my family now’ and make the ‘best memories’ while he figures out what to do next.