Tuesday 20th January 2015 (7:45pm), Keepmoat Stadium, Sky Bet League One.
Doncaster Rovers and Notts County meet for the first time this season in the league at Keepmoat Stadium this evening.Both Paul Dickov and the Magpies Shaun Derry will have aspirations on a play-off place, should there be a winner.
Though County’s away record is one of the best in the division, they recently lost 4-0 away at high flyers Bristol City and have only notched one win in their last eight outings – Saturday’s 2-1 victory at home to struggling Crewe Alexandra.
Derry has been busy in the January transfer window, recruiting Bolton full back Hayden White, Derby County youngsters Alefe Santos and Kwame Thomas, as well as Will Hayhurst on a permanent basis.
Former Crystal Palace teammate Dickov, meanwhile, has been slowly but surely moulding his squad for the second half of the season with the extension to the respective deals of Enda Stevens, Reece Wabara, Luke McCullough and Andy Butler to add to the capture of Stephen Bywater and the imminent arrival of Abdul Razak.
The two sides have met on one occasion this season in the Johnstone’s Paint Northern Area Quarter Final. An even contest was emphatically settled by a second half long range effort from Liam Noble, who misses the encounter due to suspension.
County have not visited in the league since the penultimate game of the 2012/13 season when the hosts knew a win would guarantee promotion. On the day, Joss Labadie’s 14th minute strike atoned for a 2-0 reverse at Meadow Lane earlier in the season and put the promotion champagne on ice for another week.
Attendance – 12624
Keepmoat Stadium
League 1
County 1 (Labadie, 14)
DRFC 0
Last time out (Sat 20/04/13):
DRFC – N Sullivan, J McCombe, T Spurr, J Husband, R Jones, J Lundstram (D Syers, 63), J Coppinger, D Cotterill (I Hume, 77), D Furman, B Paynter (K Bennett, 77), C Brown
NCFC - F Speiss, D Leacock, A Sheehan, K Pearce, J Campbell-Ryce (H Bencherif, 89), A Judge, J Hughes, G Liddle, J Labadie, Y Arquin, T Waite (F Zoko, 67)
Head to head league results (in Doncaster):
Rovers – 9
County - 7
Draws – 3
Team News:
Rovers – Paul Dickov may have the luxury of naming an unchanged side from Saturday. Goalscoring substitute Harry Forrester may be pushing for a start, though. Dean Furman is on international duty.
County – Shaun Derry is without Hayden White and Liam Noble – both of whom are suspended. Defender Mike Edwards (hamstring) is a doubt.
Fancy a flutter? Rovers 4/5, Draw 11/4, County 4/1
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