Saturday 21st February 2015 (3pm), Sky Bet League One, Vale Park.
Doncaster Rovers are full of confidence heading in to their weekend trip to Port Vale. Paul Dickov’s men are aiming for their fourth win in a row – something that has not been achieved by the club since November 2012.Standing in their way are the resilient Valiants who, despite their lower mid table position of 15th, are not out of the running for an end of season play off spot.
Rob Page’s side will be buoyed by the fact that his team – under the stewardship of then Vale boss Micky Adams – won at Doncaster in the reverse fixture way back in August.
The Staffordshire side swept Rovers aside in a brutal first half at Keepmoat Stadium, with Ben Williamson, Tom Pope and Carl Dickinson all on target going in to the interval.
Though Kyle Bennett hit a sweet free kick with time to spare, the sending off of Harry Forrester all but condemned to their first loss of the season.
With that scoreline, Rovers dropped out the play-off zone and only returned for the first time on Tuesday night with a spirited comeback against Crewe Alexandra.
Doncaster have not visited Vale Park since November 2007 when they completed a second half comeback. Sean O’Driscoll’s side fell behind to George Pilkington’s tenth minute goal but fought back with goals through Lewis Guy, James Hayter and Richie Wellens to take all three points back to South Yorkshire.
Last time out (Sat 24th Nov 2007):
Port Vale 1 (Pilkington, 10)
DRFC 3 (Guy, 59; Hayter, 68; Wellens 81)
League One
Vale Park
Attendance – 4581
PVFC - J Anyon, M McGregor, A Westwood, G Pilkington, J Talbot, P Harsley (M Richards, 80), M Laird (M Salmon, 87), C Rocastle, D Whitaker, L Rodgers, C Willock (P Edwards, 69)
DRFC – N Sullivan, J O'Connor, A Lockwood, G Greer, S McDaid, M Wilson (M Woods, 74), B Stock, R Wellens, P Heffernan (J Coppinger, 34), J Hayter, L Guy (S Roberts, 82)
Head to head league results (in Port Vale):
Rovers – 5
Vale – 14
Draws – 3
Team News:
Rovers – Harry Forrester has trained and could come in to contention for the weekend’s trip. Luke McCullough should be included in the squad, but it could come too early for James Coppinger (ankle).
Vale – Palace loanee defender Ryan Inniss could make his home debut. Tom Pope is back and in the goals after returning from injury.
Fancy a flutter? Rovers 8/5, Draw 5/2, Port Vale 9/5.
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