Rovers return to league action as they take on Wycombe Wanderers at Adams Park this weekend.
Darren Moore’s side beat AFC Wimbledon 2-0 in the Emirates FA Cup first round replay on Tuesday night.
Wycombe were beaten 2-1 by Tranmere Rovers in the same competition on Wednesday, despite taking a first-half lead and playing against 10 men for a large part of the game.
Wycombe’s recent run
Gareth Ainsworth’s side have made a tremendous start of the season and currently sit top of Sky Bet League One, having lost just one game so far this season.
The Chairboys have won five of their past six league games as they continue to set the pace in the third tier. They beat fellow promotion chasers Sunderland at Adams Park midway through October before earning a solid 1-1 draw at Blackpool three days later. The following weekend saw them pick up another win, this time on the road at Rovers’ South Yorkshire rivals Rotherham United, where an early goal from Scott Kashket set them on their way to all three points.
Wycombe have only played two league games so far in November – winning them both. A 1-0 victory at home to Shrewsbury Town was followed by a commanding 2-0 win at Tranmere last time out in front of the Sky cameras.
Who’s the gaffer?
Former Chairboys player Gareth Ainsworth is the man at the helm at Adams Park, being in charge in Buckinghamshire since September 2012, initially starting in a caretaker role following the departure of Gary Waddock. He continued in his role as player-manager until the end of the 2012/13 season after steering the Chairboys away from the threat of relegation.
This will be Ainsworth’s eighth season in charge of the Chairboys, finally sealing his first promotion as a manager two seasons ago, before securing Wycombe’s status in the third tier in the last campaign.
Ainsworth has taken charge of 387 Wanderers games, winning 157, drawing 99 and losing 131, giving him an overall win percentage of 40.6%.
Ones to watch
Joe Jacobson
An experienced left-back, the former Welsh U21 captain signed for Wycombe in 2014 having been Shrewsbury Town’s Player of the Year the season before that. He has since been a regular in the backline at Adams Park and has caught the eye with his set-pieces and long range goals. Jacobson finished last season as the club’s joint top-scorer, and has started this season in similar fashion – scoring a hat-trick in a victory against Lincoln earlier this season.
David Wheeler
The attacking midfielder joined Wycombe before the start of the season after leaving Sky Bet Championship side Queens Park Rangers.
Having started his career in non-league, Wheeler earned a move to the EFL with Exeter City and made a name for himself with his goal scoring ability. 20 goals in the 2016/17 campaign saw him seal his move to Loftus Road. He struggled for regular game time with the hoops though and had loan spells with Portsmouth and MK Dons – scoring the goal that saw the latter promoted to the third tier last season.
Adebayo Akinfenwa
A man who will need little introduction to Rovers fans, the powerhouse centre forward enjoyed a brief spell with the club towards the end of the League Two title winning campaign in 2003/04. Since then, he has gone on to become one of the hardest players to play against in the EFL, with spells at the likes of Swansea, Gillingham and Northampton proving to be successful.
He joined Wycombe ahead of the 2016/17 campaign and scored 18 goals in each of his first two seasons at Adams Park, helping them to gain promotion to Sky Bet League One. After his impressive performances last season, Akinfenwa signed a new deal to stay with the club for the current campaign.
Who's the ref?
Michael Salisbury will be the man in charge when Rovers face Wycombe this weekend, and you can find out more about him here.
Last time out
Rovers were beaten 3-2 the last time the two sides met at Adams Park back in January. Goals from John Marquis and Tommy Rowe had given them a 2-0 lead with 13 minutes to play, before a double from Paris Cowan-Hall either side of Curtis Thompson’s leveller secured the win for the Chairboys.