Preston North End Vs Doncaster Rovers
Coca Cola Championship Tuesday 9th December 2008 7:45PM Kick Off
Cardiff City brought Preston's unbeaten streak to a halt at five matches on Saturday meaning that Alan Irvine and his men will be looking to commence a new unbeaten run against Doncaster Rovers on Tuesday night. Despite the hiccup, Preston have still managed to maintain a lofty position in the Championship and are delicately poised to move back into the play-offs should they get a result on Tuesday night.
The same cannot be said for Doncaster however who at this moment in time lie in 22nd place in the Championship table. Just one point is separating Rovers from bottom placed Charlton Athletic who both have relegation dog fights ahead of them if their fortunes do not change dramatically. Despite the lowly league position, Doncaster currently find themselves on a run of five matches unbeaten having picked up wins against the likes of Plymouth Argyle and Ipswich Town as well as draws with high-flying Burnley and fellow relegation candidates Watford and Nottingham Forest.
Previous Meetings
The last time Preston took on Doncaster was back in November 1997 when Rovers visited Deepdale for an FA Cup first round tie. North End won the game 3-2 with goals coming from Gregan (2) and David Eyres in between an opener from Adie Mike after six minutes and an Andrew Hammond goal on 86 minutes.
Two seasons prior to the above 3-2 win, Preston took four points from Doncaster in the league when both teams came up against each other in the 1995/1996 Division Three campaign. A solitary Paul Birch goal gave the Lilywhites the win at Deepdale after the 2-2 draw at Belle Vue in October. Overall these two sides have met just 25 times with Preston having the slight upper-hand in terms of wins with 12 over Doncaster's 9.
Team News
One man who is widely expected to play for the visitors is skipper Brian Stock. The former Bournemouth midfielder will be visiting Deepdale for the first time since his move to Rovers following his departure in 2007 and may well have a point to prove
Striker James Hayter will miss out as he is sidelined with medial ligament damage suffered during the fixture with Nottingham Forest. Defenders Sean McDaid (Knee), Jos Van Nieuwstadt (hamstring) and Gordon Greer (groin) are all major doubts as is striker Waide Fairhurst (shoulder).
There are no fresh injury concerns for Preston but after the defeat to Cardiff, there may well be some changes afoot.