On the face of it, a trip to Bristol Rovers is not one of the more glamorous fixtures in Albion’s League One calendar but try telling that to Tommy Fraser.

Tonight’s clash at the Memorial Stadium is extra special for the 21-year-old midfielder, since younger brother James is a professional with Rovers.

Fraser junior will be watching rather than playing against his older sibling in the centre of the park.

“He’s done his cruciate while playing for Bognor on loan, so he is not in the best of ways either,” said Tommy, referring to the injury crisis engulfing the Seagulls.

“I know quite a few of their players through being down there and seeing my brother a lot, so this is one that I am looking forward to.

“He is out of contract at the end of the year but I think he will be all right. Either way local clubs are interested in him here, Conference clubs, and he’s had a bit of interest elsewhere.”

Thankfully for Albion in the prevailing circumstances, Fraser has steered clear of any accidents on the pitch.

Off the pitch it was a different story in the build-up to Saturday disastrous 4-0 home defeat by Crewe.

“I had a minor car crash on Friday,” Fraser explained. “Some woman drove into me. That was when I knew the weekend was going to just go downhill from there.

“After the game I just sat at home and thought about it and basically came to the conclusion that we were unlucky.

“I hate to say that, because it is not a word I like using. Some people say you make your own luck and I am a firm believer in that but in this case I strongly believe we were unlucky.”

None more so, of course than Jim McNulty. Fraser visited his stricken team-mate in hospital on Sunday, together with chairman Dick Knight and caretaker manager Dean White.

It was a sobering sight. “Poor Jim makes you realise there is more to life than football at times,” Fraser said.

“He is in quite a bad way, although he was quite good in himself. He’s got tubes coming out of him and his kidney is quite bad.”

McNulty’s plight will spur the players on tonight as they try to continue their good away form.

They have only lost once in their last eight outings on the road, at Tranmere in December deep into stoppage time.

The Memorial Stadium playing surface is notoriously heavy, which will test the stamina of Fraser and his colleagues.

It will be his fifth start in the space of a fortnight and in three of those games, against Luton, Northampton and Crewe, Albion had to play with only ten men for all or most of the second half.

“We haven’t had a big squad of late and we’ve had to carry ten men now,” Fraser said. “We haven’t had a rest since the Luton game, so it’s quite hard but we’ll be allright.”

“Dean and Bob (Booker) have been very clued-up in the way they have looked after us. Deano is a strong believer in warm-downs and getting your body right.”