Darren Ferguson isn’t worrying about his Rovers side becoming victims of the new manager’s curse at Northampton on Saturday.
Rovers face the Cobblers at Sixfields in what will be Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink’s first game in charge, but Ferguson believes his side can deal with a rejuvenated Town side.
“It’s never nice to see a manager lose their job, especially so early, but they’ve made a decision and brought in Jimmy who’s got okay experience at this level with a good record, and he’ll have them well organised,” he said.
“It can have an impact to a degree on the build-up, but we will focus on ourselves as we normally do anyway, and they’ll want to get the crowd up and positive straight away and we’ll have to deal with that accordingly.
“They’ve recruited a lot of numbers this summer and they’d have expected to be up there at the start of the season, and I’m sure their performances to go up, but we’ve adapted to life in League One well and I’ve seen a lot of positives.”
Ferguson has also been pleased with the quality of his squad so far this season, after a number of players stepped up in the absence of the likes of Mathieu Baudry, Luke McCullough and Alex Kiwomya.
“I’ve seen a lot of positives and I’ve seen a lot of the younger boys come through that we might not have expected like Tyler Garratt, and Liam Mandeville has shown up this season too, I’ve got a lot of belief in the whole squad,” he added.
“I look at the older boys to keep the other’s confidence there, such as Garratt, I’ve played him because he was quick, good in the air and he did well against Grimsby, and I’ve been pleased to see him do so well for himself.
“The younger boys are pushing the more senior players, we’ve got good senior pros and the combination of the two seems to work very well, I’ve got a very good squad and we have to put in the performances and keep pushing the standards.”
Tickets are available until 1pm on Friday 8 September for the trip to Sixfields Stadium. They can be purchased from the CD Box Office, on 01302 762 576, or at tickets.clubdoncaster.co.uk.
Please note that there is a £2 increase on any tickets bought on the day of the game.