Doncaster have made a surprisingly strong start to the 2018/19 season under Grant McCann’s tutorship. With Darren Ferguson leaving the role midway through the summer, and a fairly underwhelming transfer window, I was anticipating a bottom-half battle for Rovers this term.
However, a sharp Donny start has seen Tuesday night’s hosts amongst the front-runners after three fixtures. McCann’s men scored three second-half goals in victories away at Southend and when welcoming Wycombe to the Keepmoat Stadium, before falling to defeat at Burton last time out.
McCann admitted his team didn’t deserve anything on Saturday, although Doncaster did narrowly take top honours in both the shots and shots on-target count. Normally deadly John Marquis missed a sitter and Joe Wright, Mallik Wilks and Paul Taylor all came close to equalising when Rovers fell behind.
Doncaster sharpshooter John Marquis will look to bounce back this week.
Early signs suggest the hosts are keen to move the ball quickly, play at tempo and hit teams hard in spells of sustained pressure. I’d imagine the weekend’s reverse will rally the home side and I’d expect a response when Shrewsbury pitch up.
Salop upset the odds to reach the play-off final last season but it’s been all change at The New Meadow. Boss Paul Hurst was snapped up by Ipswich and leading lights Alex Rodman, Dean Henderson, Craig McGillivray, Abu Ogogo, Junior Brown, Carlton Morris, Toto Nsiala, Jon Nolan and Ben Godfrey have all moved on.
It’s a difficult situation for new manager John Askey to oversee and unsurprisingly, results have regressed. Town have scored just once and lost twice in their opening three outings, picking up a solitary point along the way.
The guests failed to finish their opportunities against Blackpool, managing a sole effort on-target, and things could get worse for Shrewsbury here.
I’m happy to oppose Salop and support Doncaster with a -0.50 Asian Handicap start at 2.22.
Plymouth manager Derek Adams was philosophical after seeing his Argyle side fall to a 1-0 defeat at Coventry on Saturday.
The Greens never really came under any major sustained pressure and lost out via a converted penalty; with skipper Jamie Ness sent off, it was a forgettable afternoon for the Devon outfit.
Plymouth made a slow start following promotion last year before rallying towards a top-half finish. Adams is adamant his team are on the right path this term despite picking up a paltry point from a possible nine thus far and so a meeting with old adversary Gareth Ainsworth in the opposing dugout may just ignite Argyle fires.
The Greens still boast a solid defence and are yet to concede a goal from open play.
Although Ness will miss Tuesday night’s game, the return of playmaker Ruben Lameiras from the bench against Coventry was a welcome addition to the squad and the switch back to a 4-2-3-1 system should improve their output.
Plymouth are available at 2.24 to succeed against Wycombe with a -0.50 Asian Handicap hurdle and it’s a selection that’s well worth our interest.
If Argyle have yet to fully function, Wanderers are struggling to compete following their unexpected promotion. The Chairboys conceded two sloppy set-piece goals against Bristol Rovers last time out to make it two defeats from three winless games.
Ainsworth’s outfit have notched just once in that time and tabled only three on-target attempts from their most recent two League One outings.
