Midfield maestro speaks exclusively to www.doncasterroversfc.co.uk prior to Spireites clash.
Rovers midfielder Richie Wellens admitted that he had never heard of Chesterfield’s goal scoring striker, Eoin Doyle, until recently.The forward, who has eleven goals so far this season, has notched successive hat-tricks and is gunning for another treble to become the first Football League player to do so in nearly seventy years.
“I’ve only known about him this last week because he’s got a couple of hat-tricks so I don’t know much about him,” said Wellens.
“We’ll look at the video and assess how they play and the threats, but if you’re scoring two hat-tricks in a week, he’s obviously a good player who we’ll need to look out for.
“They’ve got good momentum and they’re carrying that on but we need to get our house in order and start winning home games and get the crowds back in to this place.”
Wellens – who recently penned a contract extension at Keepmoat Stadium – made his first start in a Rovers shirt for six months and says that he is not far off full fitness.
“It’s difficult to gauge where I am – following Saturday – and I’ve always needed a few games to get going so I’d say another couple of games and I’ll be up to speed.
“I don’t want to play in League One so I’ve got my head round the fact that I’ve got to get back to 100% and to the standard where I know I can play.
“Hopefully we’ll be at the top end of the league battling for promotion to get up another league and then everybody’s happy because I’ll get to where I want to be which is the Championship,” he said.
Rovers are still missing key players in Rob Jones, Harry Forrester and Curtis Main, something which Wellens feels could be the reason behind a stuttering campaign.
“When you get a team that’s been relegated, it’s harder because the transition of players is greater. When a team is promoted, the transition of players is lower because their confidence is high and they want to carry that mentality on,” he said.
“Hopefully we’ve got our squad and we now to focus on our relationships on the pitch and what works and that’s a process we’ve got to go through and once the manager finds it at this level, you’ll find that we should be winning more games than we lose.
“We’ve got to be more patient and show more quality in the final third and then once you get that opening goal, you’d be surprised how open the game becomes. When you go away from home it’s somewhat easier because other teams have to come on to you.
“Confidence is a big thing. We’ve had a bad defeat at Bristol but when you get the strikers get going I’m sure they’ll get on a run. It’s been hard for Theo (Robinson) and Nathan (Tyson), but I think we’ve missed Curtis (Main) as well – Tuesday night would have been perfect for him, get the ball in to him and let him bring others in to play.”
Doncaster Rovers v Chesterfield in Sky Bet League One kicks off at 3pm on Saturday at Keepmoat Stadium. Tickets can be purchased here.