McKenna: Doncaster's Confidence Boosted By Sunderland Win Monday, 7th Feb 2022 13:57 Town visit bottom club Doncaster on Tuesday with manager Kieran McKenna expecting Rovers to have more of a spring in their step following Saturday’s surprise 2-1 win at Sunderland. Rovers have been a fixture at the foot of League One since the early stages of the campaign and have won only six times this season. However, under new manager Gary McSheffrey they have started to show some fight and have won their last two away games, the win on Wearside and another impressive victory away against the MK Dons just over a fortnight ago. At home, their form has been less impressive, however, the most recent of their four wins, a 1-0 defeat of Shrewsbury, having come in early December. But McKenna, whose side go into the game ninth, eight points form the play-offs, expects Rovers to be buoyed by their win at the Stadium of Light which drew them level on points with second-bottom Gillingham, but who remain above them on goal difference. “Obviously a big result for them at the bottom of the table,” the Blues boss said. “I’ve watched quite a lot of their games already this year and I’ve seen a lot of games where I think they’ve played well.
“They play good football, I know quite a few of their players, there are three ex-Man United boys in the squad [Ro-Shaun Williams, Aidan Barlow and Ethan Galbraith]. “I’ve seen quite a lot of their games this year, they play well, they play good football a lot of weeks but just haven’t been getting a result. “I’m sure they’ll be taking confidence from going away from home and beating Sunderland but we need to worry about ourselves. “We need to recover as quickly as we can. We need to improve on some things from Saturday and we need to go and give everything to get three points.” McKenna looks set to stick with keeper Christian Walton and back three Janoi Donacien, Luke Woolfenden and George Edmundson, who again seems set to wear the captain’s armband for the final time as Sam Morsy serves the final game of his four-match ban. The Blues manager could be forced into a change at right wing-back with Wes Burns having come off at the start of the second half of Saturday’s 1-0 home victory over Gillingham. Speaking after the game McKenna was hopeful that the Welshman had suffered no more than a knock but if he is unavailable then Kane Vincent-Young seems likely to return to the XI. Dominic Thompson will continue at left wing-back. In Morsy’s absence, Lee Evans and Tom Carroll will probably again start in the centre of the midfield but McKenna seems likely to shuffle his pack up front. Sone Aluko and Bersant Celina could return having not been involved at the weekend behind Macauley Bonne, a late sub against the Gills.
Doncaster are expected to be without midfielder Galbraith due to a calf problem which has hampered him in recent weeks, while Tom Anderson, Ben Close, Jon Taylor, John Bostock, Cameron John and Fejiri Okenabirhie are all currently sidelined longer term. Historically, Town have had the better of Rovers, winning 10 games between the teams (nine in the league), drawing five (five) and losing five (four). Rovers have beaten Town just once in the last eight meetings between the sides - the Blues winning six - and in two of the last 13. The teams met at Portman Road in September when Lee Evans hit his first career hat-trick as rampant Town thrashed Rovers 6-0. The Blues, previously without a home win this season, went in front via Bonne in the 13th minute with Evans netting his first on 31 to make it 2-0 at the break. After a slow start to the second period, Town went into overdrive in the final 20 minutes with Evans netting his second on 70, Bonne his second two minutes later, then the Welshman completed his hat-trick on 76, before George Edmundson added the sixth with 10 minutes left on the clock. The teams last met at what's now the Eco-Power Stadium in October 2020 when Rovers came from a goal down to beat the Blues 4-1 to comprehensively end their unbeaten start to 2020/21 and drop them to second in the League One table. A Joe Wright own goal gave Town the lead on the quarter hour but John and Ben Whiteman on 28 and 37 gave the home side a 2-1 half-time lead before Whiteman netted the third from the spot in the 62nd minute and Okenabirhie made it four two minutes later. Saturday’s referee is Ollie Yates from Staffordshire, who has shown 60 yellow cards and two red in 17 games so far this season. Yates's last Town game was the 0-0 home draw with AFC Wimbledon in April last year in which he booked Gwion Edwards and no one else. Prior to that he was in charge of the 2-1 win at Plymouth in December 2020 in which he dismissed Pilgrims winger Danny Mayor for two bookable offences and yellow-carded Dai Cornell, Brett McGavin and two other home players. Coincidentally, his only other Town match was the 0-0 home draw with Doncaster in September 2019 in which he booked Flynn Downes and five of the visitors. Squad from: Walton, Hladky, Donacien, Edmundson, Woolfenden, Burgess, Burns, Vincent-Young, Thompson, Penney, Evans, El Mizouni, Carroll, Bakinson, Edwards, Celina, Aluko, Chaplin, Bonne, Norwood, Pigott, Jackson.
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