Saturday 18th April 2015 (3pm), Keepmoat Stadium, Sky Bet League One.
Fleetwood Town come to Keepmoat Stadium – and Doncaster – for the first time in their historic, looking to achieve what would be an historic double for the self proclaimed ‘Cod Army’.The task for Paul Dickov’s men is straightforward: stop them. Dickov, while accepting that Graham Alexander’s side were the better of the two teams in the reverse – a 3-1 loss at Highbury – was scathing of his troops that day.
Dickov, who used to room with Alexander while on international duty with Scotland, has repeatedly said that any of his men with designs on the beach at this stage of the season can “leave now” and he has called for no let up, despite there being little chance of extending the season.
Despite a promising 1-0 win on Tuesday night courtesy of Rob Jones’ thumping header against Leyton Orient at Brisbane Road, the gap to sixth place Chesterfield still stands at ten points with only four games remaining.
The season has tailed off for Fleetwood too; though there very existence in the third tier is an achievement in itself as they were SIX tiers lower just ten years ago.
October’s 3-1 victory for Town was in fact the first ever meeting between the pair.
Former Blackpool striker Stephen Dobbie fired the hosts in front after just 11 minutes. Nathan Tyson’s deflected effort only six minutes later restored parity before young Wolves loanee forward Liam McAlinden pounced just before the break.
Hotly rated striker David Ball produced a sublime coup de grace to put the game to bed with a cute back heel 17 minutes from time.
Attendance –3785
Highbury
League 1
DRFC - 1 (Tyson, 17)
FTFC – 3 (Dobbie, 11; McAlinden, 37; Ball, 73)
Last time out (Sat 18th October 2014):
FTFC - C Maxwell, S Jordan, S Crainey, N Pond, C McLaughlin, G Evans, S Schumacher (K Southern, 77), S Dobbie (J Hughes, 88), J Morris, L McAlinden (J Proctor, 84), D Ball
DRFC –J Steer, J McCombe (T Robinson, 83), L McCullough, C Evina, R Wabara, M De Val Fernandez (K Bennett, 61), J Coppinger, R Wellens, P Keegan, H Forrester (C Main, 61), N Tyson
Head to head league results (in Doncaster): Rovers – 0 FTFC – 0 Draws – 0
Team News:
Rovers – Paul Dickov is sweating on the fitness of Nathan Tyson and Luke McCullough and is unlikely to take any undue risks at this stage of the season. Dickov also revealed that Mitchell Lund is “close” to reappearing for the first XI.
FTFC – N/A.
Fancy a flutter? Rovers 10/11, Draw 14/5, Fleetwood 13/5.
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