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After 84 years of playing football at their old Belle Vue ground, the Club moved to the Keepmoat Stadium, which was opened on January 1st 2007. The Keepmoat stadium cost £21m to build and is also home to Doncaster Lakers Rugby League team as well as ladies football team Doncaster Belles.
To be honest the Keepmoat Stadium, in common with a number of new stadiums, looks far more interesting from the outside that it does on the inside. The stadium is situated next to a lake (which I believe makes Doncaster the only league ground to do so) and looks smart with four interesting looking floodlights, protruding at an angle from the stadium roof. However, on the inside, the stadium is rather non-descript. Yes, it looks tidy, the stadium is completely enclosed and all the covered stands are of the same height. But it lacks character and it is rather similar to other new stadiums that have been built, except that it is on a smaller scale.
On one side is the West Stand, which is the Main Stand, containing the teams' dressing rooms and having the players tunnel and team dugouts at its front. The primary television gantry is also housed on this side, along with press facilities. Opposite is the Doncaster Success Stand which contains a row of 16 executive boxes, outside which patrons can sit. These run across the back of the stand. Both ends are identical, with the North End of the ground being allocated to away fans.
Unusually the stadium has large access points in three corners of the ground, which can be used if need be, by emergency services. There is a large video screen located in the South West corner of the stadium. The ground is completed with a set of four floodlights which are mounted on the roof in each corner.
Record Attendance
At the Keepmoat Stadium: 15,001 v Leeds United League One, 1st April 2008
At Belle Vue: 37,149 v Hull City Third Division North, October 2nd 1948
The stalwart attacking midfirlder is now 38 years old.
Details Date of birth:10/01/1981 Place of birth: England Height: 5.07 Club: Doncaster Rovers Squad: 26 Position: Midfielder
Coppinger was bought by Doncaster manager Dave Penney for a reported £30,000 in May 2004 as he looked to strengthen the squad following promotion to League One. He was a constant feature in the side from the start, though in that first season, he failed to score in his 38 appearances. He scored an average of 5 goals in future seasons, his first goal eventually coming on 26 November 2005 in a 2—0 victory over Bristol City at Belle Vue.
He scored a hat-trick, described as "three goals of the highest quality" by the TV commentary, in the 2008 play-off semi-final against Southend United in a 5—1 victory which secured a place in the League One play-off final at Wembley against Leeds United. He was in Doncaster's starting eleven for the final, which Doncaster won, gaining promotion to the Championship.
On 14 September 2010, Coppinger scored a hat-trick against Norwich in a 3—1 victory.
On 21 July 2011, he signed a new contract at Doncaster which would keep him at the Keepmoat until 2014. Doncaster were relegated at the end of the 2011—12 season and needed to offload players to reduce the wage bill. As a result, he became a subject of interest from several Championship clubs including Barnsley, who he rejected a move to. He apparently had other bids for him, but this is unconfirmed. After a few games, on 31 August, he was loaned to Nottingham Forest until January 2013 where he joined ex-Rovers players Simon Gillett and Billy Sharp under his former manager, Sean O'Driscoll. Dissatisfaction with the lack of games at Forest led him to return to Rovers after the loan spell.
Coming on as substitute in the 2—1 win over Stevenage on 12 January 2013, Coppinger reached the milestone of 300 league appearances for Doncaster, one of only ten players to do so at the club. On 27 April 2013, in an incredible final match of the season at Griffin Park, Coppinger scored the winning goal in a 1—0 away victory over Brentford in the final seconds of 5 minutes of added time just moments after Brentford's Marcello Trotta had hit a penalty against the crossbar. If Brentford had won, they would have been promoted and Doncaster would have had to compete in the play-offs. As it was, his goal put Doncaster one point above Bournemouth and they were crowned champions.
Coppinger became only the fifth Rovers player to reach 350 league appearances when he turned out to play right wing-back against Nottingham Forest in a 0—0 draw at the City Ground on 15 March 2014. Doncaster were relegated back to League One on the final day of the 2013—14 season following a 1—0 defeat at Leicester City.
On 9 September 2016, Coppinger won the Football League Two Player of the Month for the month of August. The following day, he celebrated the remarkable milestone of reaching 500 Doncaster appearances by scoring in a 5—1 away victory over Morecambe.
On 31 January 2017, Coppinger extended his contract until the end of the 2017—18 season.
In May 2019 he signed a new one-year contract with the club.
Here's a nice article on Coppinher by the BBC about his time in the game:
Went to Donny away under Muggers. I think it's the only time in football where we've won and I've left feeling deflated.... I just knew from the performance that we weren't good enough to stay up
Antony Coggins will be the man in charge when Rovers host Blackpool on Tuesday evening.
Coggins took charge of 37 games last season awarding 132 yellow cards and three reds. He has taken charge of five games so far this season across League Two, League One, and the Carabao Cup.
The Oxfordshire-based official took charge of two Rovers games last season — a 2-1 home win against AFC Wimbledon and a 4-1 away win at Walsall.
Coggins will be assisted by Joe Simpson and Conor Brown. The fourth official is Mark Dwyer.
Learning to read clusters is not something your eyes do naturally. It takes constant practice.
Simon Grayson delivers firm warning to Blackpool flops
A fuming Simon Grayson has told the Blackpool Gazette that his side can have no complaints if he made 11 changes for the clash with Doncaster Rovers tomorrow night.
The Seasiders were humiliated this weekend, going down 3-0 at home to MK Dons in a defeat few expected. With Doncaster in excellent form, Grayson is concerned he needs to address the issues currently facing his side.
They’ve won just one of their last six matches and have shipped six goals in two games, prompting the former Leeds boss to give his players an angry warning.
“When you lose a game 3-0 at home and you play as poorly as we did, I can make as many changes as I want and nobody can come knocking on my door,” he raged.
“I will address that. As a manager your thought process starts straight after the game and I will probably change the team around 25 times between now and Tuesday night. Whoever goes out will have to put more pride into the shirt because there wasn’t enough of that on Saturday.”
He also claimed that his players will need to up their game if they’re going to get anything from the game against Darren Moore’s Rovers.
“If we play like we did on Saturday then there’s not a chance (of a Blackpool victory). We’ve got to make sure we stop the opposition and we are solid as a group.”
Grayson’s side started the season brightly, but have struggled to settle in recent weeks and are currently ninth in the table, with 12 points from eight matches.
Our View
Grayson definitely needs to address the slump. He has a good squad of experienced professionals, but perhaps they’re not responding to the manager’s messages.
The worry for me was always his past record. He did well at Preston, granted, but he’s struggled to impress since. His spells with Bradford and Sunderland were wholly uninspiring and perhaps he wasn’t the best man for the job.
That said, if they get a win tomorrow night, he’ll be the toast of the town once more. The players that get left out might not be so happy though.
Learning to read clusters is not something your eyes do naturally. It takes constant practice.
Simon Grayson says no Blackpool player can have any complaints if he makes 11 changes to his side for Tuesday night’s trip to Doncaster Rovers.
It comes after the Seasiders slumped to a second straight defeat with an embarrassing 3-0 home defeat to MK Dons.
A visibly angry Grayson said no player came out with any credit and hinted he may look to ring the changes.
The Pool boss said: “When you lose a game 3-0 at home and you play as poorly as we did, I can make as many changes as I want and nobody can come knocking on my door.
“I will address that. As a manager your thought process starts straight after the game and I will probably change the team around 25 times between now and Tuesday night.
“Whoever goes out will have to put more pride into the shirt because there wasn’t enough of that on Saturday.
“If we play like we did on Saturday then there’s not a chance (of Blackpool winning).
“We’ve got to make sure we stop the opposition and we are solid as a group.
“We are too easy to play against and we’ve got to make sure we really work the opposition without the ball.
“If a team is going to beat us then they have to earn that right to beat us, and that wasn’t the case against MK.
“We will prepare a team that goes to Doncaster that puts in a more professional performance, a more spirited performance and a more ruthless performance.”
Ollie Turton was harshly dropped from the side on Saturday, with Grayson opting to keep Ryan Edwards in the back three alongside Ben Heneghan — who was a rare bright spark in his first league start of the campaign.
Explaining his decision, Grayson admitted Turton can feel hard done by for starting the game on the bench.
“Turts hasn’t done too much wrong to be fair but I thought Ben would give us something else,” Grayson added.
“With three big centre-halves I thought we should be able to defend properly and hopefully keep a clean sheet and let the others try and win us the game.
“That didn’t happen and it didn’t pan out as we had hoped it would.
“Turts can count himself unlucky and the players in the team will be looking over their shoulders for Tuesday night now.”
While Grayson is wanting improvements, and fast, he says there’s no need for an overreaction.
“These players who have conceded six goals in two games were world beaters at the start of the season when we won all three,” he added.
“I was a good manager then, I’m probably a poor one now because I’ve lost two games.
“But ultimately the season is a rollercoaster ride and you will get bad days, but you’ve got to respond to them quickly and do things better.
“I’ve got standards but the players have certainly not reached them.”
‘Where there is harmony, may we bring discord. Where there is truth, may we bring error. Where there is faith, may we bring doubt. And where there is hope, may we bring despair’
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Doncaster Pre-Match on 06:33 - Sep 17 with 460 views
It's one of those moments where the manager has to decide whether to just tweak, or go for a system change with various personnel changes. My feeling is that the side that has started the season began well but has various limitations/issues and really needs to be restructured. Larry will be worried about changing things radically as it could backfire, but you can't carry on with something that hasn't worked for several games running and has culminated in a 3-0 home defeat. Revert to last season's back 4, and you help the defence to get straight. Get another midfield player in, and help to stabilise the middle of the park, as Guy did when he was brought in a few games ago. Get more happening down the left, to take the focus away from Feeney. And get Someone like Hardie up front so that we can play through balls - we need to give the opposition much more to think about than the cross from the right to Gnandu. Play a front three with Kaikai or Scannell on the left, Feeney right, Hardie or Nuttall centre. So we can feed the ball left, right, or straight through.
I am a nutter. I come from the sea.
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Doncaster Pre-Match on 11:24 - Sep 17 with 450 views
Alnwick is judged as a capable keeper and Husband, if not a wing back, then a solid left back.
Reverting to a back 4,as last season, should shore things up.
Things are more difficult as far as the midfield's concerned. We need soemone box to box who can dictate play. I'd be tempted take Spearing off hisn defensive duties and push him upfield.
Can he play higher up and / or be box to box?
If not, I wouldn't have thought thet either Thompson or Guy could do this -
Perhaps give Virtue a run of games. He's been hampered upto now by an injury picked up pre-season and has subsequently fallen down the pecking order.
Up front, mobility and interchangability are key. Kaikai, Feeny, and when fit Delfounseo. Until he's fit either Hardie or Nuttall should be given a chance. Gnanduillet has been playing well but isn't the type of player to take us forward.
Learning to read clusters is not something your eyes do naturally. It takes constant practice.
Blackpool Look To Shake Off Weekend's Disappointment
Simon Grayson insists Blackpool’s full focus is now on tonight’s match at Doncaster Rovers and getting back to winning ways.
The manager and squad sat through a video review of Saturday’s disappointing defeat to MK Dons on Sunday and are now set on moving past that with an improved response and performance at the Keepmoat.
“We made three individual errors, bad errors. If you do that in games, then you’re not going to give yourselves a platform to win football matches from,” Grayson said.
“But we weren’t getting carried away when we won the first three games of the season and we won’t get too despondent about losing back-to-back games. We have to remember that because it’s a long season. You’re not just judged on a couple of games, but we’ve got to get back to winning ways.”
Training in the past 48 hours has been exactly how the manager would want it, with the players determined and keen to shake off the mini slump.
“We trained with a purpose and there was nobody down in the dumps or moping around. There’s a spring in the step and a real sense of correcting what went wrong.
“We’re not a million miles away. If we tweak a couple of things from the Coventry game, then we win that game. If we don’t make the mistakes we did on Saturday, we give ourselves a better opportunity of winning that game.
“We’ve got to keep clean sheets and be more ruthless in the opposition box when chances come our way as well.
“All we’re focusing on now is Doncaster, who’ve had a good start and got a good point at the weekend at Ipswich. Darren has gone in there and is trying to build off what they did last season. We’re just approaching the game and making sure that we do better with certain things.”
Learning to read clusters is not something your eyes do naturally. It takes constant practice.
Rovers will look to make it four home wins in a row in Sky Bet League One when they take on Blackpool at the Keepmoat Stadium on Tuesday night.
Darren Moore’s side go into the game on the back of a hard fought 0-0 draw at Ipswich Town last time out.
Blackpool are just a point below Rovers in the table, and will be looking for an immediate response to Saturday’s 3-0 defeat at home to MK Dons.
Brief history of Blackpool FC
Blackpool play at the 17,338-capacity Bloomfield Road stadium, which has been their home since 1900.
They are nicknamed the Seasiders after their proximity to the coast, also being dubbed the Tangerines due to their distinctive shirt colour.
The Seasiders were in the Premier League as recently as 2011, being promoted via the Championship play-offs the previous year after a 3-2 win over Cardiff City in the final at Wembley Stadium.
Blackpool were promoted to League One alongside Rovers in 2017, also via the play-offs after beating Exeter City at the national stadium to ensure that they, like Rovers automatically, were promoted back to the third tier at the first attempt after relegation at the end of the previous campaign.
Who’s the gaffer?
Simon Grayson returned for his second spell as Blackpool manager in the summer after guiding the club to promotion to the Championship in 2007. An experienced manager in the second and third tiers, Grayson has also won promotion from Sky Bet League One with Leeds United, Huddersfield Town and Preston North End.
Ones to watch
Ryan Edwards
Edwards joined Blackpool in the summer after turning down a new deal at relegated Plymouth Argyle. Having started his career as a trainee at Blackburn Rovers, the central defender made his name in the EFL at Morecambe — winning the Player of the Year award at the Globe Arena. He moved to Plymouth and went onto make 68 appearances for the Pilgrims.
Jay Spearing
The 30-year-old midfielder signed a new two-year deal with Blackpool in the summer after initially joining the club in October 2017. A player with a wealth of experience, Spearing started his career with Liverpool, before moving on to Bolton Wanderers where he made more than 170 appearances and captained the club to promotion to the Sky Bet Championship in the 2016/17 campaign.
Armand Gnanduillet
The French striker joined Blackpool in the summer of 2016 after an impressive spell with Chesterfield. Gnanduillet played a key role in helping the club win promotion back to the third tier in 2016/17, and then returned from a short stint in South Africa to finish last season as the club’s top scorer.
Who’s the ref?
Antony Coggins will be the man in charge when Rovers take on Blackpool on Tuesday night, and you can read more about him here.
Last time out
A brilliant strike from Tommy Rowe secured Rovers a point when the two sides last met at Bloomfield Road in March. Michael Nottingham had given the home side the lead before Rowe’s goal secured a 1-1 draw.
Learning to read clusters is not something your eyes do naturally. It takes constant practice.
2 Blackpool weaknesses Doncaster Rovers can expose tonight
Tonight pits together eighth versus ninth at the Keepmoat stadium with Doncaster Rovers taking on Blackpool.
Both teams are seeking to continue their positive starts to the campaign, with Doncaster still one of the only three teams in the division yet to taste defeat.
Donny head into tonight’s game off the back of a run of six games without defeat, winning three and drawing three, in what has been a brilliant start to Darren Moore’s first season in charge.
With Blackpool also having only lost twice this season, it should prove to be an interesting encounter between the two sides.
And, with Moore’s side looking to extend their unbeaten run, we took a look at TWO Blackpool weaknesses that Doncaster should look to exploit this evening….
Poor at defending attacks from wide areas
Blackpool are pretty poor at defending attacks that come from wide areas, with data provided by WhoScored.com citing it as one of their biggest weaknesses.
Donny should look to exploit the space along the side of Blackpool’s back three by asking wingers Alfie May and Kieran Sadlier to stay high and wide, which will help to drag Blackpool’s left and right centre halves out of position, causing gaps to appear between the lines, from which Donny’s attacking four can take advantage.
It isn’t a tactic that Blackpool will be alien to coming up against, given their identified weakness, but if Doncaster can be effective in this area, they can seriously hurt Simon Grayson’s side.
Poor at defending against long shots
Doncaster should also look to exploit the space that is left between Blackpool’s back three and their midfield five, with recent matches against Coventry and MK Dons showcasing their midfield’s tendency to push too high up field, thus leaving space for the opposition to exploit on the edge of the area.
This is a weakness that could play into Donny’s hands particularly as they favour taking shots from distance, which can create a wide array of scoring opportunities both directly from the initial strike or indirectly from rebounds.
It’s something that, in the eyes of many, should be a tactic from the off, particularly as the winter months set in.
Chances will come from the defence and midfield not closing down the ball quick enough, but it also tests the goalkeeper’s sight and concentration — how many times do you see a keeper lose track of a swerving ball through a sea of bodies?
[Post edited 17 Sep 2019 18:45]
Learning to read clusters is not something your eyes do naturally. It takes constant practice.
We’re of the view that Blackpool could find themselves struggling to break down this Doncaster Rovers outfit who we reckon will score & stay on top. We therefore fancy a highly competitive game with a 1-0 victory for Doncaster Rovers after 90 minutes. There should be little in it.
Pre-game facts show that Blackpool:
- are winless against Doncaster Rovers in away games against them for the last 2 league games.
- are without an away win for the past 3 league matches.
The last league game featuring these sides was League One match day 37 on 12/03/2019 and the score finished Blackpool 1-1 Doncaster Rovers. The match was refereed by Peter Wright.
Team Focus: Doncaster Rovers
Formed: 1879 Nickname: The Rovers Stadium: Keepmoat Stadium (15,231) Captain: James Coppinger Chairman: David Blunt Manager: Darren Moore Competitions: League One position 8, EFL Trophy (Group H - North)
A look at their previous results shows us that Doncaster Rovers:
- haven't been beaten in the league by Blackpool in their last 4 matches.
- are undefeated in their previous 5 league matches at home.
Star Man: Kieran Sadlier
Mostly used in the Left Attacking Midfielder position, Kieran Sadlier was born in Heywards Heath, Rep. Ireland. After making a first senior appearance for St Mirren in the 2014 - 2015 season, the skilful Midfielder has scored a sum of 2 league goals in the League One 2019 - 2020 season to date in a total of 5 appearances.
Learning to read clusters is not something your eyes do naturally. It takes constant practice.
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