The latest test of QPR's promotion credentials comes this Saturday at the Keepmoat Stadium as Jim Maglton's men face Doncaster Rovers following an international break.

Doncaster Rovers (20th) v Queens Park Rangers (4th)
Coca Cola Championship
Saturday November 21, Kick Off 3pm
Keepmoat Stadium, Doncaster

Ahhhh Donny Rovers. The whipping boys. Provincial northern town that the train sometimes stops at on the way to proper football clubs that Richard Keys has actually heard of like Newcastle and Middlesbrough. There to make up the numbers. There to provide four and six point hauls to the teams that actually matter. Them, Scunthorpe and Barnsley all within 30 miles of each other, all serving no purpose other than to supply lazy northern stereotypes for a big club centric media and to roll over and die whenever a team that actually attracts a television audience comes calling.

You won’t have seen much of Doncaster Rovers yet this season, unless you’ve gone out of your way to visit the Keepmoat Stadium, because they haven’t had a league game on the television yet despite us being well into November. You’ll also struggle to find a season preview, including our own on LFW, that predicted anything other than a season of terminal struggle probably resulting in a relegation.

You’ll also struggle to find mention of Doncaster’s attractive brand of passing football, propensity to score plenty of goals, and six points taken from Preston, Cardiff, Sheff Utd and Blackpool this season. They were a penalty miss and last minute concession away from a big result at Newcastle a fortnight ago as well. Twice they have drawn 3-3 this season, and they already have 21 goals scored to their name - Palace in 13th have 16, Swansea in ninth have 14, Forest in eighth have 18, Bristol City in seventh have 19 and so it goes on.

Still the television companies would much rather show you the latest dire chapter of Nigel Clough’s Derby County reign because, well, it’s Nigel Clough isn’t it, or treat you to another 90 minutes of unarmed warfare masquerading as football from Sheff Utd. Why would you want to watch Doncaster Rovers pass the ball and draw 3-3 when you can watch Chris Morgan and co leather the shit out of anything that moves for 90 minutes? I was exhausted at the end of the Blades’ recent televised games with Barnsley and Newcastle and I hadn’t even been playing. I felt like I’d been through an ordeal. It was football, it said so on the Sky planner, but it was like no kind of football I’d seen before or wish to again.

Still, nobody really watches Doncaster or very much cares and so this clash on Saturday, between two of the division’s better footballing sides, will probably pass by almost unnoticed. It marks the start of an important spell for QPR. A move up to fourth place prior to the international break has not come without cost for Jim Magilton who has lost both his central midfield leaders to serious injury - Gavin Mahon won’t play until February at the earliest, Martin Rowlands is finished for the year. The loan deadline draws near and the transfer window is still some way off.

The signings of Tommy Williams and Steven Reid, both very astute in my book, has shown that QPR are constantly looking to strengthen the squad but further additions will be restricted now until after Christmas. In the meantime we have a very important period where we will play eight league matches in a month and a half. Five of those are away and the list includes games against Middlesbrough, West Brom and Bristol City who are right up there, Ipswich and Sheffield United who probably feel they should be, and Doncaster, Watford and Coventry who range in category from awkward to nasty. Rangers have the ability and attacking flair to win all eight games, but without Rowlands and, strangely, particularly Mahon do we have the necessary steel and backbone to build a platform on which those players can play?

Watson and Faurlin are absolutely key to this next period of games that will shape our season - we could come out of the other end challenging for automatic promotion, safely placed in the play offs, or outside the six frantically playing catch up. Then in January we have to decide whether we really are going to go for it this season. In 2006/07, despite only being one year into a three year plan, Derby County spent big on six players in the January transfer window to push them on towards the Premiership. If it’s there you have to go for it, and the job over the next six weeks or so is to make sure it is still there when that next strengthening opportunity presents itself. There’s no reason to believe this isn’t our year, in fact there’s plenty of reasons to believe it might be, but a bad run now could be do serious damage to our chances.

Five minutes on Doncaster
Recent History:Enough of the sarcasm laced praise for a moment - there’s a very real chance that Doncaster Rovers could drop out of this division this year, as many predicted in the summer. For all the good football played and goals scored they still lie 20th, one point outside the relegation zone, with just two league wins from 16 games played. The two 3-3 draws achieved so far should both have been wins - Doncaster conceded soft late goals in both games.

That they’re in contention at all, rather than being cut away at the bottom of the table, is down to, in my opinion, the splendid work done every season by manager Sean O’Driscoll. It seemed harsh when, in 2006, Doncaster parted company with then manager Dave Penney. The club had been ruined, literally, by former chairman Ken Richardson who, as well as numerous crimes against football committed by the horrendous Mark Weaver led Rovers side that trained in the local park and was relegated in 1998 conceding 113 goals in the process, attempted to burn down the main stand at Belle Vue for the insurance money.

It was led out of the doldrums, it’s decrepit but luckily still standing ground and the Conference division by a combination of Penney as manager and John Ryan as chairman. It was an unlikely combination, one a former player in his first managerial job, the other a self made millionaire most well known for promoting Melinda Messenger’s breasts - not that they couldn’t promote themselves pretty well it has to be said. Penney and Ryan took Doncaster through League Two into League One as well, and into a new stadium across the man made lake from Belle Vue, and took several big cup scalps along the way drawing national attention to the work being done and the football being played in this corner of South Yorkshire better known for its horse racing than football. Aston Villa, Ipswich and Man City all endured tough cup nights at Rovers’ hands and Arsenal were lucky to escape in the League Cup quarter final of 2005 as well.

So like I say it seemed strange and harsh when in 2006 Penney left by mutual consent having, according to the official statement, “taken the club as far as he could.” New stadium and lofty ambitions made the appointment of O’Drsicoll a strange one. Not because he had done a poor job over the previous decade at Bournemouth, quite the opposite in fact, but because he seemed like a quiet, unambitious, one club man, happy to see out his time punching above his weight with an attractive Bournemouth side that included Wade Elliott, star of Burnley’s play off success in this league last season. I’d always had a soft spot for O’Driscoll and Bournemouth because during their promotion season from League Two in 2003 I went to see them play at Scunthorpe United and they were the best team I’d ever had the pleasure of watching at that level for quality and style of football.

Still the fear must have been that a man who commanded respect at Dean Court simply through the length of time of his service there, ten years as a player and six as a manager, would struggle to command that same authority at a new club far away from home with whom he had no connection - especially as he has an unorthodox quiet, unassuming managerial style.

Doncaster fans need not have worried - Ryan may be all grimy past and shining white teeth but he’s a shrewd fellow and the O’Driscoll appointment has lifted the club to that new level Penney felt he could not achieve with them. They defeated Leeds United against the odds in the 2007/08 League One play off final having narrowly missed out on an automatic spot. While the public was widely delighted to see Leeds suffer another year in the third tier everybody assumed Doncaster would fare poorly at the higher level. They immediately lost influential midfielder Paul Green to Derby and only really added Darren Byfield and Matt Mills, a young centre half who had been on loan at the Keepmoat from Man City the previous year, to their line up. They had the look of the Scunthorpe side that passed them on its way down that summer - likeable, but for more equipped to win friends than points.

Ultimately Doncaster stayed up with something to spare last season. They were not particularly prolific going forwards, Paul Heffernan top scored with ten ahead of Brian Stock with six, but Mills proved to be a revelation at the back, Richie Wellens was superb in midfield and in Martin Woods they uncovered a surprise hit in a player who had previously drifted through his career, more enamoured with the lifestyle than the actual playing of football - he’s the one that kept his jumper on in the Sunderland sex video scandal you may recall.

The problem is Doncaster is a small club that cannot turn down offers for its best players. Having sold Green in 2008 Mills and Wellens followed him through the exit door this summer for a combined fee of £3m to Reading and Leicester respectively. It’s not Ryan’s or O’Driscoll’s style to go out and splash that cash willy nilly but they have added Billy Sharp to the attack, Quinton Fortune to the wide midfield areas, Jason Shackell to the defence and John oster to the midfield. Doncaster’s team is unquestionably weaker than it was last season, no team at this level can lose players of the quality of Green, Mills and Wellens in the space of 12 months and not be.

At the moment they are teetering on a knife dge. They have shown enough this season to suggest they can be competitive at this level, certainly more competitive than the pre-season pundits gave them credit for when talking about second season syndrome and too much quality being taken out of the team. However with only two league wins so far and too many goals being conceded they languish in 20th position and it will need all of O’Driscoll’s skills to keep them out of the bottom three come May.

The Manager: A player with Fulham and then for 11 years with Bournemouth Sean O’Driscoll comes across as the quiet man of the Championship, and is rarely linked with other jobs despite the superb work he did in six years at Dean Court and now Doncaster as well. At Bournemouth he built an attractive, passing side with the likes of Wade Elliott to the fore, and won promotion into what is now League One in 2003. He has carried that on at Doncaster, picking up the baton from Dave Penney and moving Rovers to the next level via a 2008 play off final victory against Leeds and a season of comfortable consolidation last term. Shies away from the spotlight, an intensely likeable man and a damn good manager into the bargain. People thought Doncaster owner John Ryan was mad for parting company with Dave Penney who had brought such success to the club, but this appointment of O’Driscoll was a well researched master stroke. Deserves a shot at the so called “bigger” jobs but whether he’d be interested in being in the spotlight and testing himself at a higher level I’m not sure. Easily Doncaster’s biggest footballing asset.

Three to Watch: I seem to be spending a lot of time in this preview slagging off Sheffield United, probably because I’m still traumatised after suffering their gratuitous violence in the recent Barnsley and Newcastle matches, and I’m about to do so again. The chief goal threat to QPR this weekend comes from a player who has starred against us in the past but who has been frozen out at Bramall Lane in favour of brute force. Billy Sharp is best remembered by QPR fans for his quick fire hat trick against us for the Blades at the start of last season. Now QPR’s defending was absolutely bloody awful that day but it showed that Sharp can finish and can score goals at this level. Sadly for him since United spent £2.3m to bring him in from Scunthorpe, having sold him to the Iron in 2005 for a couple of hundred grand, he has bagged just eight league goals in more than 50 appearances.

Now there could be a couple of explanations for this. Firstly having watched a lot of him at Scunthorpe I know that Sharp’s goals more often than not come inside the penalty area, frequently inside the six yard box, where he loiters waiting for a killer pass or a defensive mistake. He got 56 goals in 95 appearances for the Iron but I always felt his partner Andy Keogh was a better all round player and Wolves definitely did the right thing spending £600k on him rather than lashing out the big money United paid for Sharp. Now it could simply be a case of better quality defenders in this league means less loose ball in the penalty area. However, since joining Doncaster on loan Sharp has scored four times already in ten appearances in a struggling side. So could it be that it is simply Sheff Utd’s brutal style of play that doesn’t suit him and now he’s in a side that actually does like to try and pass the ball, like the Scunthorpe side he used to play in, he will start to sow what he’s really capable of? Jamie Ward apart small, slight players don’t seem to succeed very often in Kevin Blackwell’s horrible side so maybe there’s hope for Sharp at this level after all with his new club.

One of them men charged with supplying Sharp is John Oster. He came through the ranks at Grimsby in the mid 1990s when I used to be a regular attender at Blundell Park but made the mistake of leaving far too quickly to join an Everton side that was, at that time, very poor and badly mismanaged. Oster, a Welsh international, always comes across as a bit too cocky and full of himself for somebody who has allowed a very promising career to drift since he burst onto the scene. Doncaster is his eighth club and he has only just turned 30. He was reasonably impressive for Palace in this league last season and could be another shrewd signing by Sean O’Driscoll.

With Martin Woods and Brian Stock suspended and injured respectively much responsibility will be placed on the shoulders of attacking midfielder James Coppinger this weekend. A player who caught Doncaster’s eye as they moved out of the Conference while he was with Exeter he has travelled through the leagues with Rovers, clocking up more than 200 appearances in the process. He’s not blessed with blistering pace, but he’s got plenty of tricks and skills capable of troubling defenders and has settled into this league very well indeed since promotion 18 months ago. A direct runner with a good eye for goal, similar in looks and playing style to Preston’ Chris Sedgwick.

Links >>> Doncaster Official Website >>> Doncaster Message Board >>> Travel Guide

History
Recent Meetings:
Rangers were beaten 2-0 on this ground in March as the wheels started to come off Paulo Sousa’s reign as manager. The R’s started reasonably well and Sam Di Carmine missed an early chance but a disastrous own goal from Damion Stewart, heading over Cerny as they both went for the same long ball, set Rovers on their way and Paul Heffernan converted a goal mouth scramble shortly afterwards. The disgruntled travelling support that had made their way north on a Tuesday night for the game made their feelings known at the final whistle.

Doncaster: Sullivan 7, Lockwood 6, Mills 7, Hird 6, Chambers 7, Wellens 7, Wilson 6, Woods 7, Roberts 7, Heffernan 7 (Hayter 86, -), Coppinger 7 (Shiels 89 , -)
Subs Not Used: Spicer, Price, Fairhurst
Booked: Mills (foul)
Goals: Stewart 23 (own goal), Heffernan 30 (assisted Woods)

QPR: Cerny 6, Ramage 7, Gorkss 4 (Lopez 52, 4), Stewart 3, Connolly 6, Routledge 3, Mahon 5 Leigertwood 5 (Miller 79, 5), Alberti 3 (Rose 52, 4), Blackstock 3, Di Carmine 3
Subs Not Used: Hall, Balanta
Booked: Leigertwood (repetitive fouling)

QPR comfortably beat Doncaster 2-0 at Loftus Road in August last season. Dexter Blackstock converted from close range at the Loft End in the fifth minute after a wicked free kick delivery from Daniel Parejo out on the flank. The lead was doubled when Leigertwood lobbed a quick free kick in behind the Doncaster defence and Emmanuel Ledesma slid it into the corner of the net leaving the Rovers players appealing for a handball with his first touch.

QPR: Cerny 6, Delaney 6, Hall 6 (Connolly 29, 8), Ramage 7, Stewart 8, Cook 6 (Balanta 72, 7), Mahon 8, Leigertwood 7, Parejo 8 (Rowlands 78, 6), Ledesma 8, Blackstock 7
Subs Not Used: Camp, Di Carmine
Booked: Ladesma (over celebrating) Parejo (arguing/failing to retreat)
Goals: Blackstock 5 (assisted Parejo), Ledesma 28 (assisted Leigertwood)

Doncaster: Sullivan 5, O'Connor 5, Roberts 5, Mills 5 (Van Nieuwstadt 57, 5), Hird 5, Guy 4 (Chambers 84, -), Stock 4, Wellens 5, Coppinger 5, Hayter 5, Taylor 5 (Elliott 84, -)
Subs Not Used: Woods, Spicer
Head to Head:
Doncaster wins 6
Draws 1
QPR wins 4

Previous Results:
2008/09 Doncaster 2 QPR 0
2008/09 QPR 2 Doncaster 0 (Blackstock, Ledesma)
1984/85 Doncaster 1 QPR 0 (FA Cup)
1966/67 Doncaster 1 QPR 1
1966/67 QPR 6 Doncaster 0
1958/59 QPR 3 Doncaster 1
1958/59 Doncaster 2 QPR 0
1951/52 QPR 0 Doncaster 2
1951/52 Doncaster 4 QPR 0
1950/51 Doncaster 0 QPR 2
1950/51 QPR 1 Doncaster 2

Played for both clubs:
Rufus Brevett
Doncaster 1988-1991
QPR 1991-1998
Born in Derby in 1969, Brevett joined Doncaster as a youngster and rose up through the ranks at Rovers before making his debut in 1988. In a three year spell at Belle Vue the left-back became a huge fans favourite and is still regarded as one of the best ever players to come out of the Rovers youth team. It wasn’t long however before scouts were being spotted watching the talented defender and it Don Howe who signed Brevett in March 1991. The £250,000 fee that the R’s paid was a record transfer received for a Donny, a record that still stands today. Rufus made his debut for the R’s in a 0-0 draw with Spurs and would go on to help Rangers finish in 12th place. Two seasons later Brevett was part of the R’s squad that finished in fifth place and as top London club in the inaugural season of the Premier League. When Clive Wilson left for Tottenham in 1995, he became Rangers first choice left back but was unable to prevent their relegation a year later. Brevett played 153 games for the R’s scoring one goal, and even that looked suspiciously like a Benali OG, before dropping a division to join the Kevin Keegan revolution at Fulham. At the time Keegan allegedly told Rufus “to leave the little club up the road and join the bigger one” and although we were disgruntled at the time, Brevett’s decision was proved to be a good as he made the Premier League with Fulham while we are still waiting to return. He later played for West Ham where he again suffered another relegation, before spells at Plymouth and Oxford. Brevett retired last May and is currently doing his coaching badges. –AR

Links >>> Doncaster 2 QPR 0 Match Report >>> QPR 2 Doncaster 0 Match Report >>> Match Report Archive >>> Connections and Memories

This Saturday
Team News: QPR are without long term absentees Martin Rowlands, Gavin Mahon and Lee Cook (all knee) but could give debuts to loan signings Tommy Williams and Steven Reid. Fitz Hall was taken off in the first half at Sheffield Wednesday a fortnight ago and is again likely to miss out because of his recurring back and groin problems. Matt Connolly replaced him in that game and was impressive on his return from a bout of glandular fever so is likely to start again. Angelo Balanta has almost recovered from his groin injury while Rowan Vine had a small hernia op during the international break. Damion Stewart and Gary Borrowdale both missed the trip to Hillsborough but are fit and travelling this weekend.

Rovers are without influential midfielder Martin Woods who serves a one match ban for a red card picked up in their defeat at Plymouth last time out. On loan defender Jason Shackell has a fitness test on Friday to see if he can feature after picking up a groin injury, fellow centre halves Adam Lockwood and Byron Webster are both fit but Brian Stock is out.

Elsewhere: A weekend of Championship action starts tonight with in form Swansea taking on Derby at the Liberty Stadium live on Sky. Ipswich v Sheff Wed is the Saturday tea time offering while the clash of promotion chasing West Brom and Bristol City looks like the pick of the 3pm games. Middlesbrough v Nottingham Forest is also an attractive prospect with Dave Kitson set for a Boro debut after joining on loan from Stoke. Newcastle are live on the television again on Monday as they travel to Preston.

Referee: Anthony Bates from Staffordshire takes charge of QPR for the 12th time this weekend as the R’s head to Doncaster. He has been a regular face at QPR games for the last decade and was the man in the middle at Huddersfield in 2001 when we were relegated from this division. He had QPR twice last season, both games finished goalless.

Links >>> Dean Sturridge Memorial Injury List >>> Arthur Gnohere Discipline Counter >>> Bates referees Doncaster fixture >>> Referee League >>> Big Weekend

Form
Doncaster: Doncaster finished comfortably in mid table last season despite being beaten nine times at home – the same as the three sides relegated from the division and more than any of the other teams that survived apart from Blackpool and Plymouth. That success was built on an impressive total of eight away wins – Burnley won promotion with seven. This season they have found the going tougher still, with two home wins and nothing yet away from home to their name. They lost a relegation six pointer at Plymouth a fortnight ago and have won just one of their last 11 matches although six of those games have been drawn. Doncaster like a draw this season, nine from 16 games played and they are pretty prolific scorers as well with more goals than several of the teams in the top half of the table as mentioned earlier. They have drawn 3-3 twice this season.

QPR: Having only won three times on the road in the league in the whole of last season Rangers have already notched four away wins this term and taken 13 points from the last 18 available on the road. The R’s have beaten Sheff Wed, Derby, Cardiff and Scunthorpe and drawn at Newcastle in their last six road trips. Jim Magilton’s side have won four and drawn one of their last six scoring 16 goals in the process and only been beaten three times all season. They currently sit fourth in the table, one of a clutch of clubs on 27 points after 16 matches played. The R’s can move up one place with a win, and technically down eight with a defeat although our excellent goal difference of plus 12 is likely to restrict any potential fall to five places at most.

Prediction: Looking at the form, the stats and the two teams on paper there should only really be one winner of this. However no away game in the Championship is ever likely to be easy and QPR, with a couple of new faces to bed in, will also be facing driving wind and rain that has lashed this part of the world all week. Doncaster are prolific scorers and like a high scoring draw which is what I’m going for here.
Desmond

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