Funny – there would have been a time when Doncaster away at this stage of the cup wouldn’t have been seen as such a shoddy proposition, but that was when we had to play 16 games to qualify for the First Round Proper. Now it is more a case of “awww, but we played them last season” – Oliver Risser scoring at theirs in a 1-1 draw, before we lost at home to them very nearly a year ago to the day. See how these things work out if you don’t pay attention?
Let’s fact ourselves senseless – four of the five goals we traded with each other last campaign were all scored during the last half hour. So do enjoy the first hour of this one folks! What else is there? Well, we haven’t won in the league for seven games ourselves, but Doncaster are without a league win in eight. Don’t laugh too hard at their misfortune though, because they played Wednesday – if we had played the Gills and lost, fortunes would be the same.
In our favour is the fact that Rovers appear to be decimated by injuries. Approximately 57 of their men are laid low for this game, which compares with virtually none for us. In fact, we may have a boost to report if Peter Hartley is able to wrest back the left back position from whoever has been playing there over Christmas. Even Darius Charles is reported to be back in training. Oh, this year really is looking up already and it’s only three days old so far…
[expand title=”WE’VE MET BEFORE…”]
| 12 Jan 2013 | H | npower League One | 1-2 |
| 22 Sep 2012 | A | npower League One | 1-1 |
| 19 Apr 2003 | H | Nationwide Conference | 2-3 |
| 08 Oct 2002 | A | Nationwide Conference | 0-0 |
| 25 Jan 2002 | A | Nationwide Conference | 0-2 |
| 27 Aug 2001 | H | Nationwide Conference | 0-0 |
| 28 Apr 2001 | H | Nationwide Conference | 0-0 |
| 02 Dec 2000 | A | Nationwide Conference | 0-0 |
| 04 Dec 1999 | A | Nationwide Conference | 2-1 |
| 16 Aug 1999 | H | Nationwide Conference | 3-0 |
| 26 Mar 1999 | A | Football Conference | 0-0 |
| 07 Nov 1998 | H | Football Conference | 2-0 |
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[expand title=”REFEREE WATCH”]
Scott Duncan (for it is he) will be the man in the middle up at Doncaster this weekend and has, on the face of it, been quite lenient this season. An average of nearly 2.2 bookings per game is one of the lowest we’ve seen for some time, although closer inspection does reveal he likes a bit of a little flurry now and then. When it comes to us, we’ve had him twice and we’ve failed to find the back of the net on both occasions. Cheery thought, innit?
This season for Scott Duncan:
Games: 20 — Yellow: 43 (2.2pg), Red: 0
Our record under Scott Duncan:
P2 W0 D1 L1 F0 A2 — Yellow: 4, Red: 0[/expand]
[expand title=”FIFA14 VERDICT”]
Not available – sowweh!
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[expand title=”BOOKIE BASHING”]
We’re not kidding – the guys at Titan Bet really do want to treat you to a risk-free £10 wager if you sign up with them. Once you do, you’ll find 74 markets on our FA Cup fixture and you have to make a call as to where your money lies. Both teams are struggling in their respective divisions, so both teams to score at 8/13 could be just as likely as a 0-0 stalemate at 17/2. If you do actually fancy the away win, it’s currently priced at 16/5. Other outlets are available…
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