DANNY Rose says bitterness over a failed over to hometown club Bristol Rovers has now faded away.

The midfielder played for the club as a schoolboy and was on the verge of joining in 2007 after a loan spell with Oxford United.

The deal collapsed at the last minute, which saw him return to the U’s on a permanent deal.

Rose admits there was a time when it influenced how he played against Rovers, but after facing them several times since then he does not expect it to be an issue on Sunday.

He said: “It was a long, ugly story.

“They offered me a deal and I was about to sign but they said they couldn’t offer it because of budgets.

“It’s a completely different club now with different personnel so it’s gone now.”

He added: “It’s always nice to play against a team from where you’re from and where you were involved a long time ago, but there’s no added incentive really, not from me.

“Maybe when I was younger I may have been a bit more naive about playing against a team from where you’re from and being over-anxious about wanting to do really well.

“But you sit back now with a bit more experience and think it’s just another game where we’ll look to get three points.”