Rovers take on Bradford City at the Keepmoat Stadium on Tuesday night in the first game of this year’s EFL Trophy.
The group-stage encounter will be Rovers second competitive outing of the new campaign, after their Carabao Cup tie at Blackburn Rovers at the end of August.
Bradford arrive in South Yorkshire on the back of a 2-1 victory at Bolton Wanderers.
The man in charge
Stuart McCall returned for his third permanent spell in charge of City earlier this year. McCall has taken charge of 235 matches combined, winning 93, drawing 60 and losing 83, giving him an overall win percentage of 39%.
Ones to watch
Paudie O’Connor
The young Irish defender joined the Bantams from Yorkshire rivals Leeds United in the summer of 2019, and went on to make 23 appearances in his debut season with the club before the season was cut short. After starting his career in his homeland with Limerick, O’Connor joined Leeds in 2017 and enjoyed loan spells with Blackpool and City prior to joining Bradford permanently.
Levi Sutton
The Scunthorpe United youth team product arrived at Bradford from Glanford Park earlier this summer, agreeing a two-year deal with the club. Still only 23, Sutton made more than 60 appearances for the Iron and became an integral part of their team in recent seasons. He will be hoping for a good start to his time in a Bradford shirt, after making the decision to head for pastures new.
Lee Novak
The experienced striker joined Bradford earlier this year on deadline day in the January transfer window. The former Huddersfield front-man arrived from fellow Sky Bet League Two side Scunthorpe and signed an 18-month contract. As well as his time at Huddersfield, Novak has played for Birmingham City and Chesterfield, amassing more than 350 appearances meaning his experience will be key to a Bradford promotion push this season.
Last time out
Rovers ran out 1-0 winners when the two sides last met in April 2019. Mallik Wilks’ superb individual effort was enough to take all three points as Rovers kept up their push for a Sky Bet League One play-off place.
More ahead of this match
Watch pre-match interviews