 Friday, 21st Jan 2011 12:47 Paul Jewell goes into his first home game as Town manager looking for a confidence-boosting win against Doncaster Rovers. The Blues boss has a near full squad from which to pick his side with Grant Leadbitter back from suspension, Tamás Priskin OK despite suffering an ankle knock last week, Shane O’Connor available again after his shoulder injury and Lee Martin recalled from his loan at Charlton. Jewell says a victory would help restore his struggling side’s battered confidence: “It’s always important to get a win when you’re in the situation we’re in. We’re in a fight. Points have been hard for us to come by all season, so we’ve got to make sure we’re difficult to beat and have confidence when we get the ball. “I think at Millwall last week there was no doubting the effort, the effort was great. We were just a bit anxious on the ball and lacked a bit of belief at certain times. There’s only one way of getting that and that’s by winning matches.” The new Blues boss is considering making changes to his team after sticking with the same XI which had beaten Arsenal at Millwall: “I think you take each and every game on its merits. I contemplated making changes last week. “The players have worked hard this week and we’ll assess the situation and see where we are and take it from there. Everyone’s under consideration.” The Town manager says his side have got to be more composed when on the ball, like Saturday’s visitors: “I think we got a bit frantic in possession at Millwall. I watched Doncaster play at Wolves the other week and arguably they’re probably the best footballing side in the division, if I’m being brutally honest. “I thought they kept the ball terrifically well the other night in the replay against Wolves. It was never a 5-0-er. It’s going to be a tough game. “They are one of those teams that keep the ball really well. We’ve got to be patient and when we get it try and counter-attack.” It’s difficult to predict the side Jewell will choose, although Márton Fülöp is likely to continue in goal. Darren O’Dea will probably be at left-back with Mark Kennedy an outsider for the role, with Damien Delaney and Gareth McAuley at the heart of the defence. Jaime Peters is likely to be at right-back with few other options at present. Jewell’s midfield is probably the area of the team which is hardest to second guess with Grant Leadbitter available again after his ban, Shane O’Connor back from his shoulder injury and Lee Martin returning from his loan spell at Charlton. Leadbitter will probably come back into the centre which would probably see Mark Kennedy drop out. Carlos Edwards could continue on the right with Colin Healy and skipper David Norris, who faces a two-match ban if he picks up his tenth booking of the season, filling the other central roles - if Jewell chooses to stick to with the 4-5-1 formation - and Connor Wickham on the left. The 17-year-old could switch roles to join lone striker Tamás Priskin, who is fine despite receiving a bang on the ankle last week, up front at some stage, as he did at Millwall. O’Connor and Luke Hyam, who was back on the bench last week after his hamstring tear, are unlikely to start at this stage having played only one reserve game since their injuries, Tuesday’s 2-0 victory over Fulham’s second string. Defender Troy Brown and striker Ronan Murray scored in that game, while midfielder Luciano Civelli is understood to have impressed, and all three could be on the bench. Lee Martin could also be amongst the subs. Loan midfielder Jake Livermore is back at Spurs with a groin injury and looks likely to have played his last Town game, while Rory Fallon was sent back to Plymouth on Monday. Brian Murphy (broken ankle) and Alan Quinn (groin) remain the only senior players currently sidelined with injury. Doncaster, who are six points and five places above the Blues, will be without midfielder Martin Woods, who suffered an abductor injury in the warm-up ahead of the 5-0 FA Cup hammering at Wolves in midweek, while Brian Stock (back), Shelton Martis (ankle), Wayne Thomas (calf), Simon Gillett (knee) and Mustapha Dumbuya (knee) are also sidelined. Defender Joseph Mills has gone back to Southampton at the end of his loan and in any case had a knee injury, but Sunderland centre-half Matt Kilgallon can return having been unavailable in the cup. Rovers have signed midfielder Paul Keegan after his release by Brian Murphy’s old club Bohemians and Spurs midfielder Ryan Mason has extended his loan spell having recovered from a back injury. Doncaster boss Sean O’Driscoll, whose side lost 3-0 at home to Reading in their last league game, says Town’s current circumstances make it a hard match to predict: "It's a difficult one, because of the manager changing and the fact that they have the Arsenal game coming up. They are still in a bit of a transition period and they probably will be until the end of the season. “The last two games we've played, against Reading and Wolves, you've almost known their team, bar a couple of changes and the way that they are going to play, whereas, under Roy, they were still struggling to find their best XI and their best way of playing. "To bring in a new manager, unless he's watched them week in week out, means that they could still be in that mode. You need a bit of luck then or you need to use your experience and put round pegs in round holes, at least that gives some kind of balance. I'm sure Paul Jewell will do that, but putting names to the players is difficult.” The man known ironically as ‘Noisy’ during his playing career says he is concentrating on his own team after the poor results in their last two games: "After two defeats and conceding eight goals, we're not going to concentrate on Ipswich. We have our own problems. We've watched Ipswich against Arsenal and Millwall, so that side carries on as normal. “The emphasis is on what team I am going to play and can we do the same? Can we put people in positions where they can do really well? We'll make sure that we do the things we need to do, regardless of the state of the game or how people are performing. If we continue to do the things we need to keep doing, it's stood us in good stead in the past." O'Driscoll, who battled through the snow to watch Town’s last league victory at home to Leicester, says the Blues have some quality up front: "They've got Jason Scotland who is very technical and who did very well at Swansea. "They've got young Connor Wickham, who has got a bit of everything. He's strong and powerful and he's got a good touch. You can see why top clubs are looking at him." The teams are yet to meet this season with the Christmas fixture at the Keepmoat postponed due to a frozen pitch. In April, Town recorded their 19th draw of the 2009/10 campaign - an all-time club record which was eventually extended to 20 - as Doncaster left Portman Road after a 1-1 draw. In what was largely a typical end-of-season match, Wickham put the Blues in front in the second half with Dean Shiels equalising from a hotly disputed penalty 10 minutes from the end. In the previous September, then-manager Roy Keane’s former Manchester United team-mate Quinton Fortune netted a late equaliser for Doncaster in a 3-3 draw at the Keepmoat Stadium. Earlier, the home side had gone ahead twice via Waide Fairhurst and Martin Woods with the Blues hitting back and then getting in front through Jack Colback, Tamás Priskin and Lee Martin. Rovers have the edge on Town in the few meetings between the teams over the years, having won three (one of those the only cup tie involving the clubs), drawn four and lost two. The Blues’ last victory against Rovers was a 2-0 home win in December 1957 when Tom Garneys and Bobby Johnstone netted the goals. No current Doncaster player has been with the Blues and no member of the Town squad has played for Rovers. Town were also interested in signing Doncaster midfielder Simon Gillett in the summer, before he opted to move from Southampton to the Keepmoat Stadium, while Blues midfielder Alan Quinn might have been on his way to the South Yorkshire club on loan but for the groin injury which has sidelined him all season. Fans buying a copy of the programme at Saturday’s game will receive a complimentary packet of sweet pea seeds, a variety appropriately named Singing the Blues, courtesy of Suffolk seedsmen Johnsons. Saturday’s referee is Mark Brown from East Yorkshire, who has shown 33 yellow cards and two red in 14 games so far this season. Brown will be taking control of a Championship match for the first time and has refereed neither Town nor Doncaster before, although was an assistant at Elland Road in April 2007 when Leeds fans invaded the pitch after the Blues had all but confirmed their relegation to League One. Squad from: Fülöp, Lee-Barrett, Peters, O’Dea, Kennedy, Delaney, McAuley, Smith, Brown, Norris, Leadbitter, Healy, Hyam, Edwards, O’Connor, Martin, Civelli, Wickham, Priskin, Scotland, Murray.
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