The top of League 2 gets the Sky Sports treatment on Thursday night when the two pre-season title favourites battle it out for three vital points at the Keepmoat Stadium when the leaders Doncaster host fourth placed Portsmouth.
With Plymouth in the FA Cup this weekend Doncaster could open up at least a three point lead at the top with a win here while Portsmouth will catapult themselves right into the automatic shake up were they to leave with the three points.
Doncaster Rovers
Doncaster go into this match off the back of a good run which includes three wins in their last four matches although they haven’t faced anyone higher than 12th in that run so it might be that they have just taken advantage of a soft schedule. We will only really know that once this game has begun and we see how they are playing.
Donny won’t need reminding that they are unbeaten at home this season. Nobody has taken more points on their own ground this campaign than them and they have only dropped six points in 12 matches so they are very comfortable on their own patch which will give them even more confidence going into this one.
Portsmouth
It took them a while but Portsmouth are finally on a consistent run having lost just one of their last 10 league matches. They extended that run with a win against Luton on Monday, a rare home win for them. This is a side who perform much better on the road and having seen them both home and away against Luton in the last six weeks I’m well qualified to say that.
They go into this match off the back of a pretty emotional win on Monday in a match where passions ran high and the fallout from that game might have been a distraction that they could do without. The one thing Portsmouth have in their favour in that respect is that they have a decent squad, so much so that Gary Roberts was only on the bench against Luton. Although given that he came on and blasted a penalty that is still orbiting the moon maybe that was the best place for him!
Team News
Doncaster could give a debut to Alfie May after he joined from non-league. Ross Etheridge has been recalled from a loan spell at Alfreton and he could play too. Liam Mandeville is rated as doubtful.
If Paul Cook wants to freshen his side up he has the options to do so. Gary Roberts, Noel Hunt and Milan Lalkovic all started on the bench against Luton but could all come in. Curtis Main remains sidelined.
Betting
Something has to give in this one. We have statistically the best home side in the division up against one of the best away sides in it so they will either cancel each other out or something will give. I can’t really pick between the two. Had I not seen the energy expanded by Portsmouth on Monday I might have favoured them as they played their first game of these three the night before Doncaster but with the travelling involved even that would only have been a tiny advantage.
I actually think we might get a tight game here. It wouldn’t be a surprise if the attacking players on both sides are knackered after the crazy schedule and we shouldn’t forget these two sides will be playing for the third time in five days and six respectively.
With that in mind we might not get the end to end and open cracker we might have done on another occasion. I wouldn’t think one would want to give the other an inch and if Doncaster can handle Portsmouth’s pressure game in the middle of the park this could turn into a stalemate. Given all that under 2.5 goals appeals here.
Tips
Back Under 2.5 goals for a 4/10 stake at 1.80 with Bwin
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