by The Rovers Review

The Carabao Cup second round see's the visit of Hull City to the Keepmoat this Tuesday.

Striker Alfie May has made three consecutive appearances off the bench to score in all three appearances and Darren Ferguson has confirmed that he will start against Hull this Tuesday, but will it be at the expense of John Marquis or Liam Mandeville? My bet would be on Liam Mandeville being dropped, due to his goal drought compared to Marquis' two in two. Ferguson also hinted that the likes of Rodney Kongolo and Issam Ben Khemis could all come into contention to start on Tuesda,y but he also warned he wouldn't be making an abundance of changes ahead of this cup tie as he wants to win it - and he also believes that the game is winnable too.

The biggest attacking threat from Hull, Abel Hernandez, won't be in action on Tuesday due to injury and they could be without their star midfielder Sam Clucasm, due to him being close to joining a Premier League club.

The previous time these two teams met was actually n the League Cup in 2012 at the Keepmoat, when Rovers narrowly beat the Tigers 3-2 with a double from Dave Syers and Rob Jones with the third.

Predicted line-up vs Hull City
Lawlor; Mason, Wright, Butler, Andrew; Whiteman, Kongolo, Ben Khemis, Rowe; May and Marquis.

by The Rovers Review

Rovers' unbeaten start to the season will be tested against Gary Bowyer's tangerines, Blackpool.
 
Coming into the game Rovers don't have any fresh injury concerns, but will still be without Mathieu Baudry, Luke McCullough and Alex Kiwomya.
 
Darren Ferguson will certainly have a selection headache up front with three in-form strikers Marquis, Mandeville and May all in contention as well as League One veteran, Andy Williams a consideration too. Marquis got his first goal of the season last weekend against Blackburn, while May scored his second in as many games too last weekend.
 
Pre-match Ferguson highlighted that Rovers are in for a tough test against a team who have previously beaten Rovers one-nil during the last two games at Keepmoat late on in the game,
“It’ll be a difficult game, but we’ve got great energy and they’ll have to match that, we have to stay patient and make it tough for them.”
 
It’s fair to say that Rovers’ defense will have to keep highly concentrated throughout Saturday as they’ll be up against the likes of Nathan Delfouneso, Max Clayton and Mark Cullen.
 
The last time these two teams met was last season during League Two, which ended one-nil to Blackpool at the Keepmoat back in April with the only goal coming from the penalty spot in the 90th minute from Jordan Flores.

Predicted lineup v Blackpool
Lawlor; Mason, Wright, Butler, Andrew; Whiteman, Blair, Rowe, Coppinger; Mandeville and Marquis

by The Rovers Review

ROVERS will travel to Blackburn Rovers in their first away game of the season on the back of their thrilling 3-2 win over Bradford City in the cup midweek.

Team news-wise, Darren Ferguson confirmed that Tuesday's absentees (Coppinger, Blair, Williams, Mandeville) will all come back into contention this weekend. In addition, Issam Ben Khemis has had his international cleared accepted, so he is now an option for Ferguson down the left.

Pre-match Ferguson was very confident in John Marquis, after not scoring all pre-season and for the first two games, Ferguson reflected that he didn't score until his third game last season and that as long as he's getting goals from other areas of the pitch and Marquis still puts in a shift - he's not too concerned.

When asked about Blackburn, Ferguson had the following to say, "He [Tony Mowbray] is a very good manager, very, very good manager. He's like the club itself and a lot of their players, not a League One manager. They're very organized and it's gonna be a tough game."

It's also fair to say they do have a lot of good players too, with a strong midfield consisting of the likes of Bradley Dack and Richie Smallwood, then up front the likes of Danny Graham along with an experienced defense consisting of Paul Caddis.

Predicted lineup v Blackburn Rovers
Lawlor; Mason, Wright, Butler, Andrew; Whiteman, Blair, Rowe, Coppinger; Marquis and Mandeville

Rovers are set to kick off their campaign in the Carabao Cup, with a visit to local rivals Bradford City.

After drawing 0-0 with Gillingham last Saturday, Darren Ferguson will certainly be looking for his players to be more clinical in front of goal this coming Tuesday evening.

Matty Blair is a doubt for this game, due to it being is brother’s funeral the following day, so Darren Ferguson has said that he will talk to Blair about whether he wants to play – stating the decision is down to Blair himself. This could mean a first start for new signing, Rodney Kongolo, who came on during the second half v Gillingham on Saturday, keeping the game alive!

Andy Williams and Issam Ben Khemis will also miss the game through a hamstring injury and international clearance, respectively.
Darren Ferguson has hinted at making a subtle rotation ahead of this game, citing that he thinks some players won’t be at full match fitness until the end of August.

Last time Rovers faced Bradford City was in March 2016, where Rovers lost 2-1 at the Coral Windows Stadium with Jamie Proctor scoring a double for the Bantams, while Nathan Tyson grabbed a consolidation goal.

Predicted lineup v Bradford City
Marosi; Mason, Alcock, Wright, Garratt; Whiteman, Kongolo, Rowe, Co; Marquis and Mandeville.

by The Rovers Review

It’s back! We can all breathe a sigh of relief as Rovers kick off their season back in League One at home to Gillingham this Saturday.

After signing for Rovers back in June 2017, Alex Kiwomya hasn’t been able to play a game since after picking up an injury after completing his medical but has since had an injury that Ferguson revealed could have even ended his playing career, but Ferguson himself is confident he’ll be able to be back in a Rovers shirt within two months. The issue Kiwomya has is that he's got something called guillain-barre syndrome which was described by Darren Ferguson as something that, “attacks the nervous system”.

Signing from Manchester City on Thursday, on loan, Rodney Kongolo, comes straight into Darren Ferguson's plans for this weekend as he, “offers something a wee bit different [in the midfield area]”. He also stated that Kongolo can play in around three different midfield positions, with him playing on the right his best position.

Ferguson has also pin-pointed Gillingham’s attacking duo Tom Eaves and Josh Parker as Rovers main threat, stating their pace as the potential areas that could damage Rovers.

The last time Rovers faced Gillingham at the Keepmoat was during the 2014/15 season, where Rovers drew 2-2 with goals from Cameron Stewart and Andy Williams.
 
Predicted lineup v Gillingham
Lawlor; Blair, Alcock, Butler, Andrew; Kongolo, Whiteman, Rowe, Coppinger; Mandeville and Marquis.