Npower Championship Matchday Twenty-Five: Doncaster Rovers v Barnsley

Last updated : 01 January 2012 By Rob Miles (BarnsleyBoy)

Team News

Bobby Hassell and Stephen Foster were both recalled to the starting line-up for the 4-1 rout of Leeds and so are likely to keep their places. Keith Hill though has been dealt another severe injury blow with the news skipper Jacob Butterfield could be out for a month with the knee ligament injury he suffered after 15 minutes on New Years Eve. Thankfully Hill has a ready-made replacement as Butterfield’s replacement- Ricardo Vaz Te came on to score a hat trick! There is another enforced change in the middle for the short trip to Doncaster. Miles Addison returns to Derby County after his loan ended as we moved into 2012. This could give Danny Haynes or Jim O’Brien a return to the starting 11. One other option for Hill is to bring Rob Edwards back into the side and move Hassell into the midfield where he has impressed on numerous occasions during his seven years at the club.

Likely Line-Up:

Luke Steele

Jay McEveley

Scott Wiseman

Stephen Foster

Bobby Hassell

Jim McNulty

David Perkins

Jim O’Brien

Matty Done

Ricardo Vaz Te

Craig Davies

Head To Head

Last Six Doncaster v Barnsley Results:

19/11/11 Barnsley 2-0 Doncaster (Championship)

25/4/11 Barnsley 2-2 Doncaster (Championship)

25/1/11 Doncaster 0-2 Barnsley (Championship)

27/3/10 Barnsley 0-1 Doncaster (Championship)

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

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

Overall Record:

Doncaster Wins: 24

Barnsley Wins: 23

Draws: 19

Doncaster Goals: 94

Barnsley Goals: 93

At Doncaster (3 at the Keepmoat Stadium, 26 at Belle Vue, 3 at the Intake Ground):

Doncaster Wins: 13

Barnsley Wins: 9

Draws: 10

Doncaster Goals: 49

Barnsley Goals: 38

This Season

Last six 2011-2012 results:

Doncaster:

31/12/11 Watford 4–1 Doncaster (Championship)

17/12/11 Doncaster 2-1 Leicester (Championship)

10/12/11 Birmingham 2-1 Doncaster (Championship)

3/12/11 Doncaster 1-0 Southampton (Championship)

29/11/11 Millwall 3-2 Doncaster (Championship)

26/11/11 Doncaster 0-0 Watford (Championship)

W: 2 D: 1 L: 3 F: 7 A: 10 GD: -3 Points: 7

Barnsley:

31/12/11 Barnsley 4–1 Leeds (Championship)

26/12/11 Barnsley 1–3 Blackpool (Championship)

17/12/11 West Ham 1-0 Barnsley (Championship)

10/12/11 Barnsley 3–5 Ipswich (Championship)

6/12/11 Barnsley 2–1 Crystal Palace (Championship)

3/12/11 Peterborough 3–4 Barnsley (Championship)

W: 3 D: 0 L: 3 F: 14 A: 14 GD: 0 Points: 9

Interesting Stats

On New Years Eve, Barnsley extended an unbeaten run over Yorkshire rivals Leeds to six matches and now 48 hours later they travel to the Keepmoat Stadium, 18 miles away in Doncaster looking to extend their 100% winning record there and extend an impressive run against Rovers to one defeat in seven meetings.

The Reds have travelled to Rovers new Keepmoat Stadium three times since it opened in 2006 and have won each time without conceding a single goal, whilst Rovers 1-0 victory at Oakwell in March 2010 is their only win against The Reds since they were promoted to the Championship three seasons ago.

There has only been one stalemate in the last 13 clashes and so whoever takes the lead tomorrow should be confident of winning. Aside from the 2-2 draw last April, the side who have gone 1-0 up have won the other 12 meetings since 1979 with three of the last six duels ending 1-0.

Doncaster have netted 94 times against Barnsley, whilst The Reds have netted one less against Rovers.

Rovers need one more goal to reach 50 at home against Barnsley, but it is six years since they last netted a home goal against them.

Victory for Barnsley tomorrow would tie the two sides on 24 wins apiece with 19 clashes drawn.

Both sides were involved in 4-1 score-lines on New Years Eve, but whilst Barnsley were thumping Leeds, Doncaster were hammered at Watford.

That defeat leaves Dean Saunders side rock bottom of the Championship with just five victories from their 24 matches this season.

They have netted just eight times in front of their own supporters this season- the lowest in the league.

But victory for Rovers tomorrow would be their third in a row at home, after accounting for promotion favourites Southampton and Leicester in their previous two matches at the Keepmoat Stadium. It would be the first time Doncaster have won three times in a row at home for two years.

Rovers are heavily relying on striker Billy Sharp for goals this season, and the former Sheffield United youngster who is heavily linked with a move away this month has netted eight of Rovers last 11 goals.

Barnsley who have already won the same amount of away games this season as they did in the whole of 2010-2011 are also relying heavily on inform strikers to bag the goals.

Ricardo Vaz Te whose New Year’s Eve hat-trick put him joint second in the Championship scoring charts with 10 and Craig Davies who sits joint third with one less, between them account for 18 of Barnsley’s last 26 strikes.

Don’t expect a draw tomorrow. Regardless of the fact these two have only managed one stalemate in the last 13 meetings, they are both not known for tying games this season. Rovers have drawn just four matches this season and just one of their last 10 , whilst Barnsley, since drawing five in a row in August and September have not had a single stalemate in the 15 matches since- winning eight and losing seven.

Ironically matches against Doncaster and Leeds were side by side for The Reds earlier in the season. In November, they followed up a 2-0 win over Rovers with a 2-1 success at Elland Road.

Barnsley have not won their first game of a calendar year for 12 years, drawing six of them. The last time they saw in a new year with victory was at the start of the Millennium when they won 2-0 at West Brom.

By contrast, Doncaster have won their last three opening matches of a year and lost just one of the last seven.

Mad Sites

www.doncasterrovers-mad.co.uk

www.barnsley-mad.co.uk

 Official Sites

www.doncasterroversfc.co.uk

www.barnsleyfc.co.uk

Other Fixtures

Crystal Palace v Leicester, 13:00

Blackpool v Middlesbrough, 15:00

Brighton v Southampton, 15:00

Cardiff v Reading, 15:00

Hull v Derby, 15:00

Ipswich v Nott'm Forest, 15:00

Leeds v Burnley, 15:00

Peterborough v Birmingham, 15:00

Portsmouth v Watford, 15:00

West Ham v Coventry, 15:00


Tuesday, 3 January 2012

Bristol City v Millwall, 19:45