Coca-Cola Championship Matchday Thirty Nine: Barnsley v Doncaster Rovers

Team News

Adam Hammill- the match winner when the two sides met at the Keepmoat in October- should be fit to return after his hamstring injury. Carl Dickinson has had surgery on his injured knee ligaments however and has returned to parent club Stoke. Fellow full back Rob Kozluk has trained for the first time since January but is not match fit.

Likely Line-up:

Luke Steele

Luke Potter

Ryan Shotton

Stephen Foster

Bobby Hassell

Felipe Teixeira

Emil Hallfredsson

Nathan Doyle

Hugo Colace

Daniel Bogdanovic

Jon Macken

Head To Head

Barnsley are looking for their fourth successive victory over South Yorkshire rivals Doncaster tomorrow, which is amazing considering the five games previous all ended in defeat. Rovers triumphed five times against The Reds within the space of two years when both sides were in League One. In 2004-2005, Rovers achieved the double- winning 3-1 at Oakwell and then 4-0 at Belle Vue, and they did it again the following season. Barnsley lost just one home game in the regular 2005-2006 campaign, but it came to Rovers, 2-0 in September 2005. Rovers also thumped The Reds 5-2 at Oakwell in the LDV Vans Trophy and then won the second league game 2-0 at Belle Vue!

It probably then makes it surprising that since both sides have been in the Championship, The Reds have come out on top in all three meetings. The first, at Oakwell in October 2008, was a rip-roaring affair. The Reds had won just one of their opening 11 games in league and cup and fell behind to a Brian Stock penalty after just 11 minutes. It looked like game over when Darren Moore was sent off for a professional foul four minutes into the second half, but Barnsley suddenly came to life.

Stephen Foster, Jamal Campbell-Ryce, with a brilliant solo effort that started in his own half, Jon Macken and Iain Hume all netted in 33 bewildering minutes to give The Reds their biggest win over Rovers in 29 years. They followed that up 24 days later when a solitary effort from Macken sealed a 1-0 win in the club’s first trip to the Keepmoat Stadium.

They achieved the same result this season- again in October. Adam Hammill scoring a wonderful effort from inside the area after collecting a Hume corner.

It is very hard to separate the sides however. Both teams have won 13 home meetings with Rovers just shading the away meetings having won 10 times at Oakwell, compared with Barnsley’s eight when they have travelled the 18 miles down the M1.

Doncaster 4-0 Barnsley:

Teams:

Doncaster: Warrington, Mulligan, Foster, Fenton, Ryan, Coppinger, Green (Ravenhill, 88 ) , Doolan, McIndoe (McSporran, 87 ) , Roberts (Rigoglioso, 89 ) , Blundell
Subs not used: Flitney,Priet,

Barnsley: Turnbull, Hassell, Kay, Vaughan(sent off 39), Austin, Shuker ( Williams, 46 ) , Burns, Reid, McPhail, Michael Boulding, Chopra
Subs not used: Flinders, Wroe, Tonge, Nardiello,

Barnsley 4-1 Doncaster:

Teams:

Barnsley: Muller, Foster, Moore (sent off 49), Guedes, Kozluk, Campbell-Ryce, De Silva, Leon (Hassell, 61 ) , Devaney, Hume (Noble-Lazarus, 87 ) , Rigters (Macken, 72 )
Subs not used: Steele,Odejayi,

Doncaster: Sullivan, O'Connor, Lockwood, Mills, Roberts, Coppinger, Stock, Wellens, Martin Woods ( Hayter, 76 ) , Guy, Gareth Taylor ( Byfield, 75 )
Subs not used: Chambers, Wilson, Hird,

Doncaster 0-1 Barnsley Match Report 17/10/09

Doncaster 0-1 Barnsley Match Report 28/10/08

Barnsley 4-1 Doncaster Match Report 4/10/08

Doncaster 2-0 Barnsley Match Report 11/2/06

Barnsley 2-5 Doncaster Match Report 18/10/05

Barnsley 0-2 Doncaster Match Report 24/9/05

Last Six Barnsley v Doncaster results:

17/10/09 Doncaster 0-1 Barnsley (Championship)

28/10/08 Doncaster 0-1 Barnsley (Championship)

4/10/08 Barnsley 4-1 Doncaster (Championship)

11/2/06 Doncaster 2-0 Barnsley (League One)

18/10/05 Barnsley 2-5 Doncaster (LDV Vans Trophy)

24/9/05 Barnsley 0-2 Doncaster (League One)

Overall Record:

Barnsley Wins: 21

Doncaster Wins: 23

Draws: 18

Barnsley Goals: 87

Doncaster Goals: 91

At Oakwell:

Barnsley Wins: 13

Doncaster Wins: 10

Draws: 8

Barnsley Goals: 51

Doncaster Goals: 42

This Season

Doncaster still have an outside chance of making the play-offs after an excellent second season at this level. Last season’s 14^th place finish was their highest league position in England’s second tier in 52 years and they look on course for beating that come May. Sean O’Driscoll’s men have lost just one of their last seven matches, and that came on Tuesday, 1-0 to league leaders Newcastle. In loanee Billy Sharp they have the division’s joint leading goal scoring striker as the 24 year old has bagged 15 goals in 33 starts for Rovers and earlier in the season scored in six successive games.

Rovers are also a formidable team on their travels, having won three of their last five matches away from the Keepmoat Stadium, including a 5-2 hammering of Bristol City at Ashton Gate- a place Barnsley shipped five on Tuesday!

Consistency is the main issue for Rovers however as their league record reads wins 13, draws 13 and defeats 13. They have also gone nine games since their last clean sheet- a 2-0 win at Sheffield Wednesday, which is the current longest run without a clean sheet in the division.

Barnsley are looking for their third double of the season after home and away wins over Blackpool and Cardiff, and are also hoping to avoid three successive defeats for the fifth time this campaign, after their losses at Ipswich and Bristol City in the past seven days. The home form under Mark Robins is generally good, and The Reds have lost just three times at Oakwell under Robins and they have won two of the last three in front of their home fans.

Record for 27^th March:

Doncaster seem to prefer drawing on the 27^th March as 6 of their 14 matches on this date have ended in stalement with four others won and four lost. Rovers have drawn three of the last four on this date and haven’t won since a 2-1 victory at Huddersfield in 1982. That is also their only away victory on this date and tomorrow will be the fourth successive time a match on the 27^th March has been played away from home. Their most recent battle was a 0-0 draw at Oxford in 2004 when Doncaster were a Third Division side. That point kept them top of the table where they would eventually finish.

Barnsley have won nine of their 19 matches played on the 27^th March including three of the last four. The Reds haven’t lost on this date since a 2-1 reverse at Crewe in 1978. Since then they have defeated Halifax 2-0 in 1979, drew 1-1 with Oldham in 1982, beaten Sunderland 3-0 in 1989, Bristol Rovers 2-1 in 1993, Grimsby 3-0 in 2000 and most recently drawn 1-1 at Swindon in 2004 when Jon Parkin put Swindon in front before Daniel Nardiello levelled from the spot. The Reds have lost just twice at home on the 27^th March (from 10 matches), 1-0 to Middlesbrough in 1926 and 2-1 to Halifax in 1962. They have won their last three home matches on this date.

Overall playing record for 27^th March

Barnsley: Played 19, Won 9, Drawn 3, Lost 7, Scored 34, Conceded 25

Doncaster: Played 14, Won 4, Drawn 6, Lost 4, Scored 13, Conceded 16

Last six 2009-2010 Results

Barnsley:

23/3/10 Bristol City 5-3 Barnsley (Championship)

20/3/10 Ipswich 1-0 Barnsley (Championship)

16/3/10 Barnsley 2-1 Nottingham Forest (Championship)

13/3/10 Barnsley 0-0 Crystal Palace (Championship)

6/3/10 Newcastle 6-1 Barnsley (Championship)

27/2/10 Barnsley 1-0 Blackpool (Championship)

W: 2 D: 1 L: 3 F: 7 A: 13 GD: -6 Points: 7