by Paul Williams

It was almost 14 years ago to the day that we last played Stalybridge Celtic in Doncaster. That was, of course, at Belle Vue and the Conference fixture came amidst another period of uncertainty for Rovers with John Ryan having just resigned as chairman in an ongoing row with DMBC over the building of a new stadium.

JR was to return, of course, and oversee not only one of the most successful periods in the club's history but also the development of the Keepmoat.

We lost that Conference game, by the way, but there will be no excuses if we fail to put away the National League North side this weekend in the first round of the FA Cup.

Like all League 1 and League 2 teams, Rovers wouldn't turn their noses up at a cup run with the chance of a money-spinner in round three, though some would argue the glamour of the FA Cup is not what it was. Stalybridge have beaten the mighty Kendal, Chasetown and North Ferriby to get this far in the competition but needed a couple of replays and a penalty shoot-out against the latter and were thumped 5-0 at Fylde last Saturday in the league.

I remember us once losing an FA Trophy match against Frickley so I'm not going to say this is a gimme for Rovers, despite the obvious gulf in class. We made pretty hard work of putting away Bradford Park Avenue in a similar contest at this stage in 2012 and our defence is still a work in progress. But Darren Ferguson will want to follow up last week's win over Colchester with another victory so won't make unnecessary changes. It might be a couple of days late for real fireworks but a few goals in the opposition's net would help ramp up the feelgood factor ahead of a more tricky test at Blackpool next week.