Saturday 13th February 2016 (3pm), Sky Bet League One, Keepmoat Stadium.
Doncaster Rovers will end their eleven day wait for a game when they host local rivals Sheffield United at Keepmoat Stadium on Saturday in what will be Rovers’ third straight home game.Darren Ferguson will hope that the result does not go the way of the previous two matches; 2-1 defeats at the hands of Port Vale and Walsall respectively.
A win for Rovers would not only close the gap on the play-off chasing Blades to three points, but avenge a 3-1 defeat at Bramall Lane in September.
Then under the caretaker stewardship of Rob Jones, Rovers fell behind to Chris Basham’s well timed volley. Ipswich Town loanee Cameron Stewart bent home a free kick to restore penalty however Connor Sammon poached a goal for the hosts on 35 minutes before Gary MacKenzie’s red card for a foul on now Rovers defender Craig Alcock proved pivotal.
Nigel Adkins side duly sealed the win thanks to a cool finish from Rovers old boy Billy Sharp who seized upon a loose back pass in front of The Kop.
Sharp scored the last time Rovers beat the Blades; a 2-0 win at Keepmoat Stadium back in October 2010 in which James Coppinger provided the other goal.
TEAM NEWS: Rovers can boast a full bill of health for the South Yorkshire derby. Thorsten Stuckmann, Andy Butler, Conor Grant and Nathan Tyson are all returning from respective ailments.
Attendance – 20869
Bramall Lane
League One
DRFC 1 (Stewart, 25)
SUFC 3 (Basham, 17; Sammon, 35; Sharp, 79)
(Sat 26th September 15):
LAST TIME OUT:
SUFC - M Howard, K Wallace, D Edgar, N Collins, C Alcock (K Freeman, 45), J Baxter (L Reed, 56), P Coutts (C Adams, 61), R Flynn, C Basham, C Sammon, B Sharp
DRFC - T Stuckmann, J Coppinger, C Evina, A Butler, A Sinclair, P Keegan (R Chaplow, 45), K Anderson, R Wellens (O Gobern, 71), C Stewart (H Forrester, 56), A Williams, G MacKenzie.
Head to head league results (in Doncaster):
Rovers – 4
SUFC – 3
Draws – 6
WHAT ARE THE ODDS? Rovers 2/1, Draw 12/5, SUFC 6/4
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