by Paul Williams

Of course, we all want Rovers to win at the King Power on Saturday and save our skins under our own steam - who would have thought that Leicester would be champions and targeting 100 points when we beat them at the Keepmoat in the autumn?

But we wouldn’t be human if we weren’t also closely following the action at the Reebok, where a win for Bolton over Birmingham will see us safe whatever happens elsewhere.

You have to congratulate Nigel Pearson and the Foxes and we wish them the best of luck in the Premier League. Kevin Phillips plays his last-ever match but let’s hope he doesn’t mark his retirement with a goal. We don’t have a great record at Leicester but have every incentive to get a result this time and, hopefully, both sets of fans will have something to celebrate come the final whistle.

by Paul Williams

It’s almost 30 years since we last beat Reading, but who takes any notice of the history books?

Paul Dickov’s team must be due a change of luck – the sending-off of Abdoulaye Meite last week was almost comical and came just seven days after Ipswich should have been reduced to 10 men after an horrendous challenge on Gabby Tamas.

Reading are firmly in the play-off picture but Nigel Adkins is complaining of having to field half-fit players –  he’ll get no sympathy if the Royals run out of gas at the Keepmoat, considering the injury list that Rovers have had to contend with this season.

A win and we’re just about safe; anything less and we’ll all be sweating through 90 minutes at the King Power next week. Let’s greet Reading with a sea of red and white and cheer the boys to three points.

by Paul Williams

We’ve come out second-best in our three matches against the Rams but had won five of the previous seven meetings, so maybe all isn’t lost just yet.

Steve McClaren’s side are, of course, still mathematically in the hunt for automatic promotion and have players who can score goals. But, you could argue, so did Leicester, QPR and Wigan when they arrived at the Keepmoat earlier in the season and we do still need a few points ourselves to stave off the chasing pack of fellow strugglers.

If there had been any justice, we’d have got something out of our last two games against Bolton and Ipswich but it appears we have to suffer at least a broken limb to get a free-kick out of some officials at present – perhaps Mr Hooper will be more sympathetic to our cause this week with the Sky cameras to play to?

by Paul Williams

This survival malarkey is getting a bit tiresome – why don’t the bottom three just accept their fate and chuck in the towel?

We’re only TLO Donny Rovers so you just know we’re going to do this the hard way and it can’t be easy lining up with a different back four every week. Lucas Neill limped out of Tuesday’s game against Bolton, preceded by Richie Wellens - we may not see either at Ipswich. Let’s hope the defenders’ curse isn’t infectious and has been passed on to the midfield. Our centre-back partnerships have seen more changes in personnel than the Sugababes this season.

Portman Road is our next port of call for a re-match with the Tractor Boys, who gave us a right drubbing at the Keepmoat on Boxing Day. We’ve strengthened and improved since then but Ipswich, under the guidance of Ireland’s most famous Yorkshireman Mick McCarthy, still have designs on the top six so won’t make it easy, though we’ve won on two of our last four visits to the Suffolk back waters and it’s a ground where Billy has had plenty of luck in recent years; another couple of goals wouldn’t come amiss this Saturday.

by Paul Williams

Considering the players at their disposal, Bolton really shouldn’t be languishing in the bottom half of the table – but you could say that about quite a few teams in the Championship.

Dougie Freedman’s side have improved to pull away from the relegation zone in recent weeks and are unbeaten in four, having only conceded one goal in their last three games. They boast some names familiar to Rovers fans including former loanee David Wheater, who has been a rock at the centre of their defence. Jermaine Beckford spent our play-off final victory peeking out of Matt Mills’ pocket but looks to have been let out now they are team-mates at the Reebok. Matt was a great favourite at the Keepmoat but has only just returned from injury – I wonder if he still aims that long pass from right to left looking for Mark McCammon’s head?

I hate the non-word ‘bouncabackability’ but that’s what Rovers need to show after Saturday’s second-half collapse against the bruising Brummies. Keep an  eye on those scores from elsewhere, however, just in case.