Tuesday 27th September 2016 (7:45pm), Sky Bet League Two, Keepmoat Stadium.
Rovers return to Keepmoat Stadium on Tuesday evening, off the back of a 3-1 loss to Luton Town, wishing to preserve their unbeaten start to the league season at home.
In fact, the last time Rovers tasted defeat on their own soil was in late-March.
Standing in their way, however, is an unbeaten Carlisle United side – one of just two Football League teams without defeat this season – who have recorded six draws and three wins; their latest victory coming at the weekend in a 1-0 triumph over Wycombe Wanderers.
The sides have often crossed swords; the latest was also a midweek affair in South Yorkshire with the hosts looking to advance their promotion push from League One in 2013. Regrettably for Brian Flynn’s men, they went down 2-0 courtesy of Liam Noble’s double. That result for the Cumbrians had atoned for their 3-1 loss against Rovers earlier on in the season when Rob Jones, David Cotterill and Tommy Spurr were all on target.
Rovers undoubtedly have the upper hand over United in South Yorkshire with 14 wins to nine and just shade the overall head to head 23 v 22 (from 61 meetings).
Forgoing a 9-2 rout in January 1947 at Belle Vue, Rovers most famous win of recent note was the 1-0 scoreline over the already relegated United to put the gloss on the Division 3 title win in 2004.
TEAM NEWS: Mathieu Baudry is pushing for more game time after playing 20 minutes against Luton from the bench. Craig Alcock and Niall Mason are gradually returning to fitness while Gary McSheffrey’s rehabilitation continues.
LAST TIME:
Tues 9th April 2013:
DRFC – 0
CUFC – 2 (Noble 35, 86)
League One
Keepmoat Stadium
Attendance – 7884
DRFC – G Woods, J McCombe, A Griffin (J Husband, 87), T Spurr, R Jones, J Lundstram, J Coppinger (I Hume, 77), D Cotterill, D Furman, C Brown, K Bennett (B Paynter, 64)
CUFC - M Gillespie, D Livesey, S O'Hanlon, J Mustoe, A Welsh, B Potts, J-P McGovern, P Thirlwell (D Cadamarteri, 63), J Berrett, L Noble, L Miller
HEAD TO HEAD: Results (in Doncaster): Rovers – 14, Draws – 7, CUFC – 9.
WHAT ARE THE ODDS? DRFC 21/20, Draw 5/2, Carlisle 5/2.
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