Keepmoat to Shake for the First Time

DONCASTER ROVERS

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BURY

You know, I think Bury was my first ever away fixture.  I know, its not a typical first away fixture for a Rovers fan.  That would be Rotherham or Scunny.  But mine was Bury.  I remember very little about it other that Bury played in blue and we sat in the stand.  The major memory of the day was looking down on the Gigg Lane pitch having become used to Belle Vue.  

"Init small!", I said.

The mind plays funny tricks on you when you're a football fan.  I was convinced I witnessed a  0:0 draw back then.  When I look back, I see it could have only been the 1975 1st round FA Cup tie that Rovers lost 4:2.  Obviously I'd blanked it out.  Curse the internet!

DONCASTER ROVERS

The league 1 campaign kicked off for Donny with the best possible result.  In fact, its  their best opening day result for 29 years.  In 1983/84, Rovers opened with a 3:0 home win against Wrexham and, if you are one for omens, that season we went on to win promotion as runners-up in division 4.  For a season where we bettered that 3:0 scoreline, you actually have to go back to before I was born.  It was a 4:0 win over Lincoln 46 years ago.  That season we were promoted as champions.  So obviously the season is over!  Its clear what is going to happen.

Being about 800 miles away from the action and listening in, it not easy to gage how good/bad we were.  Walsall certainly had plenty of possession but were unable to break down the Rovers defence.  At the other end, it was another story as when we did attack Walsall, we had them in all sorts of problems.  In fact, we had them in some difficulties when we weren't attacking them, as David Cotterill's goal showed.  

It was announced on the commentary as being a 60 yarder.  On the Walsall commentary, they were talking about 40 yards.  C'Mon lads!  I'll give you a hand.  60 yards would mean the shot came from inside our own half on any pitch in the country.  40 yards is about level with the centre circle inside your opponents half.  It shouldn't be so difficult to distinguish between the two.  So lets have a look.

50 yards with the angle t is then!  Still, if all we argue about all season is whether goals are from 40 or 60 yards, long may we argue!

What was especially pleasing was to listen to the Walsall commentators speculating on what the result meant.  To them, Donny's intent in league 1 was quite clear and in 7 or 8 games time, they could be top of the league and unbeaten, in which case Walsall's result wouldn't seem so bad!  Nice to have them say such nice things about us.

The only negative?  We picked up 3 yellow cards.  Now we're a big side, which is unusual for us but at the moment, we have a small squad.  We could do with avoiding potential problems with suspensions toward the Christmas period.  It's a small point and hopefully, before the end of the month, more players will be in to make the suspensions issue less critical!

BURY

Welcome, Bury for your first visit to the Keepmoat.

Bury were promoted to League 1 as runners-up in 2010/11 and finished last season in 14th position.  60 goals were scored in their debut season, which is OK for mid-table, but 79 against, including shipping 4 goals on 6 occasions is not.

Ex-Rovers captain Adam Lockwood has been brought in to help bolster the defence.  Locky was a good servant for the Rovers and certainly has enough ability to hold his own in league one.  The only issue is his fitness, which let him down over his last two seasons with Donny.  If he is over those problems, then he is a good signing.  Partnering him?  Andrei Jones was given the shirt on Saturday but he is only 20 years-old.  I'm not sure caretaker Manager Peter Shirtliff will be keen to pit him against the experience of Chris Brown and Billy Paynter. 

At the other end of the pitch, the Gigg Lane Golden boot last season went to Andy Bishop, a Shakers veteran of over 200 appearance, with a very modest 8 league goals.  Rather tellingly, in second place came Ryan Lowe with 7 goals in 7 games.  Lowe had been a prolific scorer for Bury, scoring more than a goal every other game in his 90 appearances.  Unfortunately he was sold to Sheffield Wednesday early last season and it looks like Bury are still on the look out for his replacement.

To that end, Bury have brought in two young strikers, Lateef Elford-Alliyu, a Nigerian signed  from West Bromwich and Mark Cullen, on loan from Hull. 

So far this season the Shakers just lost out to Middlesbrough by the odd goal in 3 in the Capital One Cup before earning a point with a goaless draw at home to Brentford.

Looking around the t'interweb, it looks like a draw against Brentford was the right result and on Bury's forum boards, probably the best places to get summaries of games in League 1, they were certainly happy enough.  The main concern I picked up in the best of the reports that I found was concern over a static, flat back 4 and a lack of width when attacking.

According to the bookies, Bury may well have their work cut out this season and  I agree that things could prove difficult.  There are some good, experienced players in the squad, especially in midfield, but a lack of cutting edge and a defence with a potential to leak could make this a long season.