Rovers travel to Frickley Athletic on Tuesday evening for their second pre-season game ahead of the 2018/19 Sky Bet League One campaign.
Grant McCann’s side were 1-0 winners in Saturday’s fixture against Alfreton Town as Joe Wright’s 60th minute strike was enough to hand McCann his first win as Rovers manager, and the side will be looking to make it two out of two at the Bigfellas Stadium on Tuesday.
Brief history of Frickley Athletic
Frickley Athletic play at the 2,087-capacity Bigfellas Stadium.
The club’s most successful season came in the 1985/86 campaign when they finished second in the Alliance Premier League. They also managed to make the third round of the FA Cup in the same season, in which they played Rotherham United. This game had an attendance of 5,800 which remains the club’s record attendance.
Frickley were unable to build on this success in the following season as they were relegated from the Football Conference to the Northern Premier League Premier Division. The Blues have remained in this division ever since.
They missed out on automatic promotion by just three points last season, and had to settle for a place in the play-offs. The Blues went on to suffer play-off heartbreak as they were beaten 2-1 by Stamford AFC, who had finished 11 points below them in the regular season.
The team also had success in the Sheffield Senior Cup but were knocked out in the semi-finals of the competition as they fell to a 3-1 defeat against Shaw Lane.
They will be looking to ensure that they do not have to rely on the lottery of the play-offs again this season and instead secure automatic promotion.
Who’s in charge?
Spencer Fearn was appointed as the club’s manager in May following the surprise dismissal of Karl Rose. He has John Stancliffe working alongside him as assistant manager.
Fearn has a considerable amount of managerial experience in non-league having worked with the likes of East Stirling and Stockport County over the past few years.
One of the biggest successes in his career was with Maltby Main as he managed to turn their form around and maintained a 42%-win ratio over a 100-game spell in charge.
He also operates as a development coach with Championship side Rotherham United. He will be looking to ensure that his side builds on what was a positive first season under his management.
Ones to watch
Daniel Rowe
The 22-year-old defender arrived at the club in May following the end of the season and could be a key player for the Blues in the upcoming campaign. After coming through the ranks at Rotherham United, Rowe has gone on to feature for Stalybridge Celtic, Wycombe Wanderers, Barrow and York City. He promises to be a very astute signing.
Jacob Hazel
The prolific striker joined Frickley in August 2015 from Mickleover Sports. He was previously on the books of Chesterfield and has had loan spells at FC United of Manchester, Bradford Park Avenue and Buxton FC as well as a short spell at SK Sprint Jeloy in the past. He scored a total of 47 goals for the Blues last season, matching the total amount of goals from the entire squad in the previous season.
Gavin Allott
The club captain is undoubtedly a fans’ favourite at the Big Fellas Stadium. He scored Frickley’s first and last goal of the 2017/18 campaign, with his last ensuring that the Blues extended a record of scoring in 49 consecutive games. He will be looking to continue to lead by example next season and ensure that his side earn automatic promotion.
Last time out
Rovers came out as 2-0 winners in a pre-season friendly in 2015, thanks to two goals from Nathan Tyson.
Want to go to the game?
Ticket prices for the games against Frickley are as follows:
Adults £8
Concession £5
Under 16s £3