Leeds United vs. Doncaster Rovers Preview

Leeds United will aim to get their faltering promotion bid back on course when they host Yorkshire rivals Doncaster Rovers at Elland Road on Saturday February 18.

Goals from Danny Pugh, Tom Lees and an extraordinary overhead strike from Ross McCormack eased the Whites towards a bloodless 0-3 success at the Keepmoat Stadium in October, however the proposition of recording a league double over Donny does not seem so straightforward leading into this fixture for the home side, who are woefully out of form and suffering from a prolonged lack of consistency which essentially led to the recent dismissal of boss Simon Grayson.

Former Barnsley star Neil Redfearn has subsequently taken over on an interim basis and began his tenure well with a 0-3 victory against Bristol City on the road.

The celebrations didn’t last long however and Leeds were once again beaten at Elland Road on their next assignment, as Brighton became the sixth side this season to leave West Yorkshire with all three points.

Rovers are by far one of the worst teams in the division as demonstrated by their standing just two points off the foot of the table in 23rd.

But with Leeds continuing to prove inept and absent of confidence in front of their ever loyal supporters, Dean Saunders’ men may feel that their rivals are there for the taking and could spring a mini surprise.

Doncaster will take comfort from their recent 2-0 derby win over Barnsley – a team who have of course put six goals past Leeds this season in the midst of completing a historic league double.

And following stalemates against Cardiff City and Hull City showed further improvement - as well as providing the obvious boost of clean sheets and encouragement to the Rovers defence who have conceded 45 goals already this term.

The appointment of ‘transfer consultant’ Willie Mackay was an extremely controversial acquisition in the eyes of the media however his addition to the Rovers set up could be starting to reap rewards and the team are undoubtedly stronger thanks to the likes of Pascal Chimbonda and El Hadji Diouf who have signed on short term deals.

Doncaster may still, therefore, have some room for improvement whereas on the other hand, it is Leeds who are looking rather stale and out of ideas.

The Whites were praised frequently for their attacking endeavour and entertaining style last season – and whilst the obvious cost of such play was goals leaked at the other end, at least the striker and creative midfielders were keeping up their end of the bargain.

Now, as the current campaign heads into the spring, Leeds are continuing to ship goals by the boat load however they are failing to compensate at the other end.

Leeds literally cannot buy a win at home and at 4/6 they look far from certainties to follow up on the aforementioned 0-3 success earlier in the season.

Yet despite the lack of confidence behind the hosts, Donny also look a little too short at 4/1 to take an interest.

The one thing which should be guaranteed is goals and a much more appealing 4/6 can be taken about three or more being scored in what is set to be an end to end Yorkshire battle.

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12/02/2012     © Frixo 2024