Saturday 10th January 2015 (3pm), Boundary Park, Sky Bet League One.
Rovers cross the Pennines to face Oldham Athletic for the second time in just five weeks.Paul Dickov – once the Latics boss – saw his current side, Doncaster, overcome his old in the second round of the FA Cup; a competition that Rovers are still involved in.
Since that day, all has not gone to plan for Lee Johnson’s men who have lost their last three league outings – conceding 13 goals in the process.
The Yorkshireman, in contrast, are enjoying somewhat of a resurgence of late and in that same period have acquired seven points without conceding a goal.
This looks set to be the third and final meeting between the pair this season – unless an unlikely play-off meeting intervenes – and while Rovers will be hoping for a repeat of their cup exploits, Athletic will be hoping they can do a league double, having comfortably won 2-0 at Keepmoat Stadium back in August.
On that day Johnson Clarke-Harris, now of Rotherham United, put the visitors ahead with a close range finish before ex-Rovers Jonathan Forte swept home a penalty on the hour to put the game to bed.
The meeting in the FA Cup in December was a far more balanced encounter and a measure of how far Rovers had progressed in a relatively short space of time. A game of few chances was won with a typically unfashionable goal as full back Enda Stevens’ drive was parried by Paddy Kenny on to an unfortunate George Elokobi who put through his own goal.
Both sides currently sit three points off the play offs, despite their lower mid-table positions and will cast designs on a top six finish come May.
Attendance – 3242
Boundary Park
FA Cup Second Round
DRFC 1 (Elokobi, 86)
Oldham 0
Last time out (06/12/14):
OAFC - P Kenny, G Kusunga, J Mills, B Wilson, G Elokobi, C Winchester (D Poleon, 69), L Kelly, D Philliskirk, D Johnson (A Morgan-Smith, 89), J Ibehre, J Forte
DRFC - S Johnstone, E Stevens, A Butler, R Wabara, L McCullough, K Bennett (H Forrester, 76), R Wellens, P Keegan, J Coppinger (D Furman, 67), T Robinson, C Main
Head to head league results (in Oldham):
Rovers – 7
Oldham – 6
Draws – 6
Team News:
Rovers – Dean Furman will be absent from selection against his former side as he is representing South Africa in the impending Africa Cup of Nations. Rovers have no fresh injury concerns and Kyle Benett and Nathan Tyson could be pushing for starts.
Fancy a flutter? Rovers 11/5, Draw 12/5, Oldham 7/5.
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