Saturday 12th September 2015 (3pm), Sky Bet League One, Bescot Stadium.
Rovers hit the road once again this weekend looking to rack up their first away win of the season. They’ll have to do it without Paul Dickov though; the Scot departed the football club as first team manager on Tuesday afternoon after just over two years in charge at Keepmoat Stadium.In his place will be – on a temporary basis – fans favourite and club captain Rob Jones.
This is not unfamiliar territory for Jones either who ably assisted Brian Flynn in caretaker charge of Rovers midway through the 2012/13 season and helped see the club home to the League 1 title.
Rovers have, thus far, struggled for any rhythm this season though and find themselves languishing in 17th with one win, three draws and two defeats to their name.
Standing in their way of adding to their ‘W’ column are a settled Walsall side who are flying high in third position after getting off to a blistering start which included four wins in their first five games. The only blip came last week, however, with an uncharacteristic 1-0 home defeat to Bury.
Rovers record at Bescot Stadium is reasonable, having attained 7 wins in 29 attempts from their outings in the Black Country; the most recent of which came in a 3-0 victory on the opening day of the 12/13 season.
The boot was firmly on the other foot last term; however as goals from James Baxendale, Tom Bradshaw and Anthony Forde saw Rovers off in a 3-0 reverse.
The Saddlers added to that in February and completed a double with goals from Jordan Cook and Jordy Hiwula.
TEAM NEWS: Luke McCullough, Nathan Tyson, Harry Forrester and Rob Jones remain injured. Andy Butler will return to Walsall for the first time having made over 170 appearances for them between August 2010 – October 2014.
Attendance – 6089
Keepmoat Stadium
League 1
WFC - 2 (Cook, 3; Hiwula, 70)
DRFC - 0
Sat 7th Feb 2015:
LAST TIME:
DRFC - S Bywater, J McCombe, A Butler, E Stevens, R Wabara, R Wellens, C Main (N Tyson, 45), P Keegan (T Robinson, 77), H Forrester, D Furman (K Bennett, 45), U Ikpeazu
WFC - R O'Donnell, B Purkiss, J O'Connor, A Taylor, P Downing, M Cain (R Flanagan, 89), R Sawyers (J Baxendale, 88), A Forde, A Chambers, J Cook, A Grimes (J Hiwula-Mayifuila, 66)
HEAD TO HEAD: League results (in Walsall): WFC - 19, Rovers – 7, Draws – 3.
WHAT ARE THE ODDS? WFC 10/11; Draw 5/2; DRFC 3/1.
ROVERS PLAYER: Listen to live coverage from 14:45 with Tom Biltcliffe and Jordan Owens.
ROVERS WALL: Follow all the action as it happens from 14:00.