THE pressure is firmly on Bristol Rovers' shoulders ahead of Saturday's Conference opener against the Mariners.
The Pirates host Paul Hurst's men at the Memorial Stadium in a televised curtain-raiser.
Following their relegation from League Two last season, Darrell Clarke's men are heavily tipped to make an immediate return to the Football League.
And Town boss Hurst says those expectation levels are another key factor for Rovers to deal with.
He said: "We know it will be a good atmosphere – the TV cameras are there, and everything is set up for a good afternoon.
"Both sides will be looking to get off to a good start.
"For Bristol, while football people understand it's a 46-game campaign, they'll be desperately trying to get off to a good start to lift some of the doom and gloom from getting relegated.
"For large parts of last season they weren't really the ones who were going to go down – right up until that last game they were still probably favourites out of those three to not succumb to the drop.
"But they did, and they'll have to deal with that. They'll be trying to get that feel-good factor back as soon as they can.
"For us, it's just about going there and concentrating on ourselves – being professional and trying to get three points."
