Team News:
Doncaster will be without striker Chris Wood and midfielder Martin Woods. Manager Dean Saunders is expected to name an unchanged team with former Blade David Cotterill is in prolific form with 9 goals so far this season.
Danny Wilson will be without Harry Maguire after he picked up his 5th yellow card against Hartlepool on Saturday and will serve a 1 game ban. Tony McMahon is back after his suspension Collins and Miller are still out with Jean Francois. Keeper Mark Howard is back in training and Richard Cresswell is expected to partner Dave Kitson up front.
Danny Wilson: promises to be a fascinating clash with Doncaster having the incentive of going above us with a win.
"But there is no bigger incentive for us than returning to winning ways and we have looked solid away from home all season, so we believe we are more than capable of getting a result."
Some pundits have labelled Rovers a surprise package this term, but the Gaffer doesn't share those sentiments.
He concluded: "I am not surprised at all to see Doncaster right amongst things at the top with the experience they managed to recruit in the summer.
"They have got a fairly robust squad with an excellent blend of youth and experience and at the start of the season we highlighted them as potential challengers.
"We have seen in recent weeks they are capable of defending very well, as they did at Bramall Lane earlier in the season, but also at the other end of the pitch they have potential matchwinners, but saying that so do
Dean Saunders :
“Everybody wants to watch it – It’s New Year’s Day, people will be off work so hopefully there’s a big crowd.
“We
had a lot of fans here today (at Preston) so that was great, so they’ll
be there. Hopefully they’ll be people coming to the game who haven’t
been before and they keep coming in the future.”
Sheffield
United travel to The Keepmoat on the back of a shock defeat at the
hands of bottom club Hartlepool United, only their third defeat of the
season, but Saunders still anticipates a tough test.
“Well, until today they’ve been hard to beat. They’re solid and they don’t let many goals in.
“I
expect Sheffield United to bounce back - You saw how our players
reacted to the Coventry game – We just have to make sure we’re solid and
don’t give them anything”
The win at Preston
meant that Rovers are now level on points with the visitors and Dean
believes his team are in the right shape to take on The Blades.
“We’re bang on form, we’ve lost one in the last seven or eight and I think we’ve won 6 of them and the team keeps improving”
United’s
defeat to Hartlepool shows how tight the league can be and the former
Blade says that despite how tight the league is, any team can make a
push for promotion if they find consistency.
“We’ve just got to keep banging the results out; I don’t really look at everyone else.
“If
you win three games on the trot you travel up the league no matter what
league you’re in whether you’re at the bottom or the top, it makes a
massive difference to your points.
“We’ve just won two on the trot. Let’s see if we can make it three.”
Sheffield
United are a team the Rovers manager feels are a major threat in League
One and believes now is the best time to play them.
“They’re
the biggest club in the league a mile and hopefully we can get them
before they sign any new players. Some might arrive in the morning, but I
hope not”
The game has a bit of extra spice to
it for Saunders, having played for the visitors but says that any
memories he has of his time there goes out of the window on Tuesday.
“I played for Sheffield United - it’s a great club and I enjoyed it there, we had a good team and it was a good time
“Danny
Wilson, the manager, I played with when I was young so it’s got a bit
of an edge to it all round – It’s a local derby with a bit of that in
there as well.
“We had a team of internationals – And I banged some goals in for them.”
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