Tues 21st October 2014, Keepmoat Stadium, SkyBet League One.
Doncaster Rovers return to the Keepmoat Stadium tonight for their first home fixture in close to a month.During that time, Paul Dickov’s side have played five away games in all competitions, winning two and losing three.
The south Yorkshire side host lowly Leyton Orient, who were tipped by many for a positive season following the acquisition of established players Darius Henderson and Jobi McAnuff. The departure of manager Russell Slade to Cardiff City has also cast somewhat of a cloud over the Londoners attempts to challenge the upper echelons of the third tier.
Rovers fans will have bittersweet memories of playing Orient, from suffering an 8-0 thrashing in December 1997 at an almost Arctic like Brisbane Road, to re-emerging from the non league wilderness on a baking hot day at the same venue and sweeping the opposition aside 3-1 courtesy of goals from Gregg Blundell and Leo Fortune West (two).
The 8-0 defeat was Orient’s last over Rovers and they have tried and failed to defeat Rovers on eight occasions since.
It was under the guidance of Brian Flynn that Rovers notched their latest victory over the O’s.
Rob Jones’ bullet header from David Cotterill’s 19th minute corner opened the scoring, before Chris Brown’s neat second half finished wrapped up proceedings and completed that season’s double.
Orient were defeated in last season’s League One play off final by Rotherham United at Wembley.
Attendance – 6438
Keepmoat Stadium
npower League One
Orient 0
DRFC 2 (Jones, 19; Brown, 54)
Last time out (19/01/13):
Teams – ROVERS – Gary Woods; Paul Quinn, Jamie McCombe, Rob Jones (c), Tommy Spurr; David Cotterill, David Syers, Paul Keegan, Kyle Bennett; James Coppinger, Chris Brown
Subs used – Emile Sinclair for Coppinger 72 mins; Robbie Blake for Cotterill 89 mins.
Leyton Orient – Jamie Jones; Leon McSweeney, Scott Cuthbert, Ben Chorley ©, Gary Sawyer; Moses Odubajo, Jimmy Smith, Antony Griffith, Dean Cox; Charlie McDonald, Ade Azeez
Subs used – David Mooney for Azeez 46 mins; Lee Cook for McSweeney 58 mins; Martin Rowlands for Griffith 79 mins.
Head to head league results (in Doncaster):
Rovers – 8
Orient – 3
Draws – 3
Team News:
Rovers – Paul Dickov has hinted at a Rovers reshuffle. Curtis Main, Kyle Bennett and Dean Furman are likely to be in his thought. Rob Jones (knee) won’t.
Orient – Defender Mathieu Baudry is missing following his red card in the goalless draw with MK Dons on Saturday. Nathan Clarke is also out through suspension, but new Italian striker Gianvito Plasmati could feature alongside the returning Jobi McAnuff.
Fancy a flutter? Rovers 9/5, Draw 9/4, Orient 17/10
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