DONCASTER ROVERS V
TRANMERE ROVERS
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So now we are all recovered from the DT's caused by the summer football draught, its two games in 4 days as the League Cup gets underway. Yes, lets call it the League Cup. That's what it is and I really can't be bothered to look up who sponsors it these days!
Rovers have a difficult-looking tie against the scousers of Birkenhead. I checked that and despite a Facebook group, telling me to the contrary, there are an awful lot of websites out there proclaiming Birkenhead's Scouseness.
Pretty much like all cup competitions, the League Cup will have us on the edge of our seats, screaming our teams on; have us proclaiming how we are so under-estimated should we beat a big club but have us all saying we could do without it.
Curiously, the two Rovers have never met in this competition although in league competition there is plenty of history between us. The South Yorkshiremen are ahead in the head to head with 33 victories to 19 with 20 matches being drawn.
DONCASTER ROVERS
It's difficult for us because we had 16 players for Saturday, and then we lost 2, so we've got to find another 2 from somewhere - Sean O'Driscoll
This time last season saw Donny slip out of this competition to an extra-time goal from Accrington Stanley's Chris Turner. The Rovers line-up that day could be described as experimental with several of the first team being rested and it is likely to be a similar story on Tuesday night although "resting" could be a euphonism on this occasion.
Perhaps earlier than we thought, we are going to see if we have the strength in depth that we clearly didn't have last season. Along with the enforced absences of Hayter and Sharp, I think Mason, Coppinger, Naylor and Oster could well sit this one out. So I'm predicting 6 changes from Saturday and will be very interested to see how we fair against what will be decent opposition.
With all the doom and gloom around about the loss of Sharp and Hayter, a positive for me is that we're going to see Chris Brown given a decent run.
Football managers often, for obvious reasons get stuck into playing known formulae that they know work. The Sharp / Hayter partnership up front for Rovers is one of these formulae. I remember last season when at the Scunthorpe match, Sharp scored and my friends around me said "OK, now Hayter needs to get his goal", and sure enough, he did.
Leaving a fit Billy Sharp out of a Rovers' side is unthinkable and Hayter's work-rate make dropping him difficult. But back in our league 3 days, Chris bagged 10 goals in a loan period from Sunderland that lasted 22 games. These are still the best statistics that he has posted for anyone in his career. We know he's up to this level as he was typically a pain in the side for us when he played for Preston however he's never been a prolific scorer (except when playing for us). I think Brown getting a run in the side was always going to be initiated by this kind of situation. Let's hope Chris can regain that form he showed back in 2003 and so give Sean a real selection dilemma when Billy and James return to fitness.
TRANMERE ROVERS
They play from the back and every single player they've got is comfortable receiving the ball in tight situations. - Les Parry
So Tranmere's season is up and running with a 1-0 victory against the League 2 Champions, Chesterfield at Prenton Park. Hats off to them! Promoted league champions are a tricky opening fixture, even if you do stick to your game-plan!
Looking at the highlights of that one, all I can say is if those were the highlights, Chesterfield didn't test Tranmere all that much! In fact the highlights only showed one "moment" for the Spirites, a header on goal more or less straight at the 'keeper.
So apart from the one-sidedness of it all, what else struck me. Well, Tranmere looked a big side so I went to their team page and clicked through the first 7 players before finding one under six feet. It could be a bruising encounter then. Just what Rovers want and need!
Looking for a bit more inspiration on what Tranmere are like as a team, I turned to their 3:0 win over Leyton Orient at Brisbane Road. This time, the highlights showed absolutely no Orient threat on Tranmere's goal. Now remember, the Os at this time were on for a play-off birth with Tranmere safely mid-table. I'm starting to get concerned now that we have a team who, if they get it right, can completely shut their opponents down and out.
Robbie Weir, goalscorer on Saturday certainly has a decent corner in his locker as the highlights of that match showed. With all the height Tranmere have at their disposal, Donny will have to watch that.
The other player who caught my eye was Aaron Cresswell, who can really hit them from range. Thankfully (or not) he has moved on to Ipswich so is one to look out for.
After Cresswell's stunning opener, the scoring that day was done by Adam McGurk, a 21 year-old product of Aston Villa's youth system. They were two of the three goals he's scored for Tranmere but he's making the team so could pose another threat.
So what goes wrong for Tranmere at the back? Well to answer that, I'd have to look at Tranmere when the ball is actually in their own half. The last game of last season saw Swindon beat them 2:0 and yes there were some things to see. The first goal saw Ian Goodison beaten in the air from a corner and the knock down found a player in all sorts of space. There's no way such a corner should pay off against a big defence like Tranmere's. When things did go wrong at the back, there was a bit of "Rabbit in the headlights" syndrome with players standing and waiting to see what would happen. Theres was also nearly a real goalkeeping howler when he dwelled on the ball too long and hit it against the advancing Swindon striker. It fell nicely enough for the Swindon man, but fortunately, his howler proved slightly more embarrassing than the 'keepers.
But my overwhelming impression was how susceptable Tranmere looked against any sort of pace. Any quality balls for Swindon players to run on to were causing headaches. This weakness, with the quality with which Donny can pass the ball would normally make me think that Rovers will win this. But who knows what team will be put out by Sean in the current situation. And besides, regular readers know, I don't do predictions.
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