Tuesday 16th September (7:45pm), Sky Bet League One, Keepmoat Stadium
Rovers host Crawley Town for only the second time in their history this evening and are looking to gain their first win over the Red Devils, and with it their first win on home soil this season.Paul Dickov’s men were brought down to earth with a bump on Saturday by table-topping Bristol City and the Scot, who takes charge of his 200th managerial game has said that he’s striving to find that consistency.
For John Gregory’s side, the aim will again be survival in the third tier for a third successive season, following promotion under Steve Evans in the 2011/12 season.
The pair first met in August 2012 when a solitary strike from livewire striker Nicky Ajose settled a languid encounter late on at the Keepmoat.
The televised rematch in February 2013 saw all the pressure put on Brian Flynn’s visiting Rovers, who were chasing promotion.
A 25 yard screamer from Josh Simpson inside half an hour sent the majority of the 3,000 crowd inside Broadfield Stadium in to raptures.
Rovers were to salvage a point however thanks to teenage protégé James Husband. The dynamic full back registered his first ever professional goal with a diving header on the stroke of half time to give the south Yorkshire side a (fair) share of the spoils.
Last time out (February 18th 2013):
Crawley 1 (Simpson, 25)
Rovers 1 (Husband, 43)
League 1
Broadfield Stadium
Attendence – 3267
CTFC - P Jones, M Sadler, M Dumbuya, M Connolly, J Walsh, B Clarke, N Adams, D Bulman, J Simpson (S Torres, 41), M Sparrow, J Proctor
DRFC - G Woods, J McCombe, P Quinn, T Spurr, J Husband, R Jones, L Fowler (K Bennett, 75), J Coppinger, D Cotterill, J Harper, B Paynter
Team news:
Rovers – Rob Jones (hamstring) and Curtis Main (knee) will not feature. Neither will Harry Forrester (suspended).
Crawley – Gwion Edwards will be assessed ahead of this fixture, but it will come too soon for Josh Simpson. Loanees Josh Wright, Mat Sadler and Keith Keane could all retain their places.
Head to head (at Doncaster):
DRFC – 0
CTFC – 1
Draw – 0
Fancy a flutter? Rovers – 21/20, Draw – 12/5, Town 5/2
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