Saturday 22nd August 2015 (3pm), Sky Bet League One, Vale Park.
Doncaster Rovers and Saturday’s opponents, Port Vale, bring strikingly parallel records to the table when the pair clash at Vale Park.Both sides have played three and drawn three in the league (the only teams to do so) with light relief coming in the League Cup wins over Leeds United and Burnley respectively.
It is only six months since Doncaster were last in Staffordshire but recent history favours the Valiants who completed last season’s league double over Paul Dickov’s men in February.
Doncaster’s rear-guard has provided a positive for their boss, particularly with summer transfers Thorsten Stuckmann, Gary MacKenzie and Aaron Taylor-Sinclair complimenting the back five very well and leading to back to back clean sheets.
Vale, under the stewardship of former Sheffield United defender Rob Page, have been prudent in the transfer window to date, acquiring goalkeeper Jak Alnwick, AJ Leitch-Smith and former Rovers loanee Uche Ikpeazu.
Tomorrow will be the 50th meeting between the two sides in all competitions since they first met in 1901. Rovers hold the upper hand with 21 victories to Vale’s 20.
TEAM NEWS: Rovers could call upon Rob Jones who should recover in time to make the trip to Stoke-on-Trent. Paul Keegan, Nathan Tyson and Dany N’Guessan will not feature.
Attendance – 5713
Vale Park
League 1
DRFC - 0
Vale - 3 (Marshall, 7; Veseli, 38; Moore, 87)
Sat 21st Feb 2015:
LAST TIME:
PVFC - C Neal, F Veseli, R Inniss, C Robertson, C Dickinson, M Marshall (C Birchall, 85), M O'Connor, B Moore, M Brown, T Pope, B Williamson (L Dodds, 71)
DRFC - S Bywater, A Butler, E Stevens, R Wabara, J McCombe, H Forrester (C Main, 45), K Bennett, A Razak (U Ikpeazu, 64), D Furman, R Wellens, N Tyson (T Robinson, 75)
HEAD TO HEAD: League results (at Port Vale): Rovers – 5 PVFC – 15 Draws – 3
WHAT ARE THE ODDS? PVFC 6/4, Draw 9/4, DRFC 9/5
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