- by Chris Mortley
Doncaster Rovers travel to Lancashire on Saturday afternoon, where they prepare for the eagerly-awaited Championship opener against Preston North End at Deepdale.
North End, under the management of Darren Ferguson, finished 17th in The Championship last season and will be looking to improve on a campaign which was shadowed by financial matters off the pitch.
The summer has been fruitful for Ferguson, who has brought Scunthorpe United striker Paul Hayes and experienced Leicester City defender Wayne Brown to Deepdale and Rovers manager Sean O'Driscoll admits that Preston North End could be hard to predict.
"They signed two players in the last week of the season, so they could change what they have done in pre-season," Sean told RoversPlayer.
"We are trying to be ready for if they do that. Darren (Ferguson) has watched us against West Brom and I saw them play against Everton. It's the same old, same old. Whatever happens on the day will determine what happens. Sometimes that is down to luck, sometimes it is down to poor refereeing decisions, sometimes it's down to great bits of skill."
"We understand what this division is all about. With 46 games to play, I'm more concerned that we exhibit those attributes against Preston. If they suddenly changed the fixture list tomorrow and we found out that we were playing QPR; would we change a lot? Not really, because the things that you need to do well are the things that you need to do well week in week out. It will be a good test for both teams so that we can see where you are. Sometimes you can only get a true reflection of that when you start the season."
