Vikings ready for Toon pillage on Saturday?
Posted on October 23rd, 2009 | 11 Comments |
Fair play to them, they bounced back to such a degree, that they just missed out on automatic promotion to the Champonship in the 2007-8 season. Progress in the playoffs the same year saw them reach the final at the new Wembley stadium where they beat off Leeds United, taking Rovers to the second tier of English football for the first time in 50 years.
Rovers play at the Keepmoat stadium which with it’s 15,000 capacity is also home to the Dons Rugby League side, the athletic club and the Belles Football Club. They will have one fifth of their stadium capacity travelling with them having sold out their entire 3,000 ticket allocation. They will be loudly supported by their own official ‘Donny Drummer,’ a 17 year old who bashes a tune on a huge drum to get the fans going both home and away (if our stewards let him in with it, that is!).
They go into Saturday’s clash following their second win of the season Tuesday evening, a 3-1 victory at home to Peterborough. Scorers for Doncaster were Billy Sharp, Dean Shiles and Jason Shackell, with former Newcastle United reserve team players James Coppinger and Lewis Guy also playing for Rovers in that match. James Hayter is their top scorer in the league this season but goals seem to have come from a variety of players including Martin Woods,Billy Sharp, Adam Lockwood and Waide Fairhurst. Doncaster currently lie 18th in the championship taking up the spot vacated by Scunthorpe following their win against us on Tuesday.
So far this season though, Donny haven’t won any of their away matches, having drawn 4 and lost 2. I always develop a knot of anxiety in my stomach when reading about teams who haven’t won since the 1990’s, players who haven’t scored in decades etc before they meet us, as you just know we will provide the impetus for their fortunes to change.
Doncaster will be without Brian Stock (midfiled), Adam Lockwood (Defender),Byron Webster (Defender) and Steve Brooker (Striker) who are all out injured.
Interestingly, they employ a Director of Football Mickey Walker, in addition to manager Sean O’Driscoll. Don’t know how they get on, but hopefully better than our famous pairing.
We hardly need reminding that 4 points seperates the leaders, WBA, from 10th spot, so as we sit in 2nd place a defeat will see us plummet down the league which will certainly have a huge psychological impact on players and fans alike.
We will be hoping to extend our unbeaten home run and will presumably see Nicky Butt replace the suspended Alan Smith, while Collocini is likely to be fit again for selection. Our central defense could certainly do with him, to allow one of our two makeshift centre backs to return to their normal position. Let’s hope our dear strikers remember their lucky scoring boots, and hopefully we will see more then 10 minutes worth of Nile Ranger. Lovenkrands really needs to get his finger out as he is currently proving to be a waste of space, although I accept he is played out of position. Marlon needs to start showcasing his goal scoring abilities and keeping his trap shut if rumours are to be beleived.
Tickets will be available on the door, so any of those thinking of ‘boycotting’ might prefer to take their chances at SJP rather than face the joy of Saturday afternoon at the Metro Centre.
Hoping for a 2-1 win to us although where the goals will come from is anyone’s guess.
Howay the Toon!
NUFCBlog Author: geordie deb
geordie deb has written 38 articles on this blog.
cant see any thing else but a win tomoz even with the shower of shite we have playing for us