Through the seasons before us..

After such a tremendous performance at the weekend to sweep Huddersfield Town aside, a chance to play again at home only a couple of days later is hopefully a chance for the players to continue to bask on the high of their last game.  The fans should be up for it, and whilst I suspect Doncaster will provide a stiffer test than the hapless Huddersfield, if Forest approach the game in the same way they did at the weekend, then they should be good enough to record a win.

Doncaster have had mixed form of late, with more bad results than good – winning only one in their last six league outings (against Port Vale, at home) – they’ve lost their last three away games so seem to struggle on their travels, the latest being against Bournemouth at the Fitness First stadium.  It’s worth considering that even on a tuesday night they are likely to bring a better-than-usual following to the City Ground, who will be eager to see their side end their barren run away from home.

I would expect Rovers to line up akin to the Northampton side that visited recently – setup to frustrate, defend and maybe nick a point.  Certainly I imagine they’ll have seen the highlights of the Huddersfield game and realise that playing a high defensive line and offside trap would be very foolhardy indeed – I reckon they’ll give us time and space at the back, and hassle us when we get forward, and hope to catch us on a counter attack.

Nathan Tyson is available again for this game following his suspension, although I would hope he struggles to get back into the side, with Grant and Junior combining well up front for us.  Given the nature of Tyson’s sending off (and booking prior to that), hopefully a struggle to get into the side will bring the positive side out of him again and see him grasp any opportunity he gets from the bench to give Smoulderwood something to think about.

Sammy Clingan will obviously be missing from midfield due to his shock broken ankle at the weekend, there’ll be huge temptation to replace him with Lewis McGugan after an impressive showing by the youngster – but if he’s recovered sufficiently from his thigh injury, I would be more tempted to place Prutton in his place, and keep Perch on the right hand side of midfield, again, with McGugan to have an opportunity from the bench should we need a change of tactic.

Doncaster currently sit in tenth place, with their tricky recent run of results making their playoff bid look more difficult – as with Huddersfield, they’ll be keen for a result to put these aspirations back on track.  We lost to them just before Christmas of course, at the last game at Belle Vue – and this probably represented the beginnings of our appalling run of form between the end of December and February – whilst Doncaster were deserving winners on the day, it was a howler by Paul Smith that gave them the points.

The man to watch in that game was Jonathan Forte – on loan from Sheffield United – and it’s likely he will be again.  A pacey left winger who can operate as a striker also – we’ve seen him before numerous times, I have memories of him rattling the bar against us when he was on an earlier loan spell with Rotherham United.  A dangerous player, one I’ve often wondered why we don’t try to sign to provide Commons with serious competition for his position on the left.

But all that aside, if Forest play the simple stuff well like at the weekend, and are half as lethal when chances come our way then we should have enough in the tank to overcome Rovers and condemn them to their fourth consecutive away league defeat – it won’t be as easy for us as Huddersfield made it, but with 90 minutes of hard work I feel reasonably confident.  It all depends whether we do that, or do what we’ve done before and sit deep and play negatively.

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