Stevenage make the 266-mile round trip to Yorkshire tonight for a clash with Danny Schofield’s Doncaster Rovers…
Kicking off at 7:45pm, tonight’s fixture acts as the perfect opportunity for Boro to bounce back after falling to defeat against Northampton Town on Saturday. The side sit in second place, just one point behind league leaders Leyton Orient who have a game in hand. Steve Evans’ men have won ten league matches from fifteen, drawing two and losing three.
After suffering relegation to Sky Bet League Two earlier this year, Rovers have had a mixed bag of results in their fight back to the third tier. So far this campaign, Doncaster have won six, drawn four and lost five from fifteen league fixtures. Most recently, Donny travelled to Crewe Alexandra and walked away with a point, but before that their journey to Carlisle ended in a 3-0 defeat.
Tonight Doncaster will be looking for their first home win in over a month, which saw goals from Joseph Olowu, George Miller and Kyle Hurst contribute to a 4-1 thrashing over Crawley. George Miller is the side’s top scorer so far this seven, netting seven in all competitions and assisting twice.
Rovers recently underwent a major change of personnel as Gary McSheffrey was relieved of his duties last week. Three days later it was announced that Danny Schofield would be appointed as the new Head Coach, meaning that tonight’s game is Schofield’s first in front of a home crowd. At the start of the campaign, Schofield oversaw Championship side Huddersfield Town, but one win in his first eight league games led to him looking for employment elsewhere.
Boro and Doncaster’s ‘head-to-head’ begins in the late nineties as both sides were looking for promotion to the Football League. The first meeting between the two clubs saw Stevenage pick up a 2-0 victory on Broadhall Way. Stevenage would battle it out with Donny for the next four campaigns before the Yorkshire side earned promotion.
Fast-forward a decade and the sides would meet again, this time in Sky Bet League One. Boro went on their travels to Doncaster and earned a 1-1 draw thanks to Oliver Risser’s only ever goal for the club.
Although Stevenage are yet to beat Donny in the league, they did manage to earn a victory in the 2013/14 FA Cup Third Round. Boro were victorious away from home, with goals from Peter Hartley, Francois Zoko and Darius Charles leading to a 3-2 win.
Doncaster Rovers have played their home games at The Eco-Power Stadium since its opening in 2007. The ground holds a capacity of 15,231, with a record attendance of 15,001 being set in 2008 at a clash with local rivals Leeds United. At the Stadium Business Awards 2010, the stadium received the award for Best Matchday Experience.
Sebastian Stockbridge has been appointed Match Referee for this fixture with Bradley Hall and Paul Stonier as Assistants and Darren Drysdale as Fourth Official. Stockbridge has overseen eleven EFL fixtures this season, dishing out thirty yellow cards and two reds.
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