Former Blues midfielder Grant Ward is looking forward to returning to Town when his current club Bristol Rovers visit Portman Road for Sunday’s FA Cup third-round tie and believes the League One side are capable of causing an upset (KO 3pm).

Ward, now 30, joined Rovers in January 2023 after leaving Blackpool. A one-time Spurs academy youngster under Blues boss Kieran McKenna, the Londoner made 75 starts and 23 sub appearances for Town between August 2016 and May 2019, scoring eight times, including a famous hat-trick on his debut having come on as a half-time sub, netting his first with his first touch for the club.

“It’s nice to go back there, see a few familiar faces and see the fans,” he told the Rovers club site. “It will be a good experience, and hopefully we can get a result. 

“They had a bit of an up and down time when they came down to League One and they were stuck in League One for a little while, but they’ve bombed on and looked good. They are holding their own in the Premier League, so hopefully, they can stay up.  

“I think we have to go up there with no fear, but I wouldn’t say a free hit as such. But we have to go there with no fear, and hopefully, if we can do what we want to do and our game plan, I think we can go up there and get a result.”

Reflecting on the FA Cup, he added: “It’s a competition I enjoy. I’ve got a few goals in the FA Cup, so hopefully I can get another one.

“It’s a good competition. It’s the magic of the FA Cup, as they say, you never know who you’re going to get in the next round, so it’s a good competition to be in.”

Ward is enjoying working with new Gas head coach Inigo Calderon, who took charge on Boxing Day following Matt Taylor’s departure.

“It’s been a good week,” he continued. “To work with the gaffer for a proper week, it has been good to watch him implement his style. To be honest, it’s been a tough week, but it’s been good and I think the boys have enjoyed it.  

“With the Christmas period, we didn’t really do much training because there’s a game, recovery day, light training session and match again. So, it’s been good for us and him to both see what he wants to implement. 

“I like him. He’s passionate, he’s intense and he knows what he wants to do. Hopefully, we can do that.” 

Ward says Calderon has given everybody a chance, whether they were in the previous manager’s thoughts or otherwise.

“That’s what you get with a new manager,” he added. “They want to look at everyone and obviously if you can impress, hopefully you can get in the team. So I think everyone has a clean slate and it’s been good.” 

Photo: Pagepix

Dissboyitfc added 10:32 - Jan 11 I was there for that debut hatrick. I seem to remember we paid 500k for him and let him go a free ( i think) back then we lost on players, these days in the main players values increase after KM and staff! Back in the day the FA cup was so very special on every level and for every round, it used to be ( the final) one of the only games live on TV, we will this weekend see more games on TV than we did then in an entire season! This competition has been ruined by a factor of things, Man UTD going to play in that stupid club cup completion instead of entering the FA cup helped put another nail in it, they should have been kicked out of it! That said we need to stay in the completion as it gets competitive minutes into the legs of others who might not be getting many minutes otherwise. We used to have the east anglian combination league back in the day!

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Dissboyitfc added 10:32 - Jan 11 I was there for that debut hatrick. I seem to remember we paid 500k for him and let him go a free ( i think) back then we lost on players, these days in the main players values increase after KM and staff! Back in the day the FA cup was so very special on every level and for every round, it used to be ( the final) one of the only games live on TV, we will this weekend see more games on TV than we did then in an entire season! This competition has been ruined by a factor of things, Man UTD going to play in that stupid club cup completion instead of entering the FA cup helped put another nail in it, they should have been kicked out of it! That said we need to stay in the completion as it gets competitive minutes into the legs of others who might not be getting many minutes otherwise. We used to have the east anglian combination league back in the day!

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SickParrot added 14:45 - Jan 11 Certainly nothing to fear based on our recent cup history and that Kieran may change all 11 players from last weekend!
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flykickingbybgunn added 14:57 - Jan 11 One bloke on the Gas forum complained that Driving to Ipswich was nearly as far as Rotterdam.
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Linkboy13 added 19:39 - Jan 11 Still no news on the Philogene saga (episode two) personally i don't think he's worth any where near 22 million pounds and we should be looking elsewhere where at players who have at least played at a decent level.
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pablo123 added 23:11 - Jan 11 Nice to see you again grant
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