Blackburn Rovers welcome League One outfit Doncaster Rovers on Saturday as they begin their FA Cup campaign - a competition that has not brought them much success in recent years.

Doncaster overcame Carlisle United in the last round, winning a tight encounter 2-1 thanks to a double from Ben Whiteman.

Match preview

It has been 150 years since the first FA Cup competition was held, and in that time Blackburn have won the world's oldest football trophy six times, the last of which coming in the 1927–28 season where they beat Huddersfield Town 3-1 in the final.

Cup glory has not been as frequent of late, with the Riversiders having not surpassed the third round of the FA Cup in the last three seasons, including losses to Hull City, Newcastle United and Birmingham City.

This will be the first-ever FA Cup meeting between Blackburn and Doncaster, but not the first cup meeting. In fact, Blackburn have already beaten Doncaster in a cup competition this season, knocking them out of the EFL Cup in August.

In Blackburn's history, the only other time that they have knocked a team out of both major domestic cup competitions in the same season was in 2008-09, eliminating Sunderland from both the League Cup and FA Cup.

The Blue and Whites will again fancy their chances of overcoming Donny, having won each of their last six FA Cup ties against sides from a lower division. If Tony Mowbray's men can win, they will reach the fourth round of the FA Cup for the first time since 2016-17.

Donny swept FC United of Manchester aside in the first round of this season's competition, and having seen off Carlisle, they now have their sights set on causing an upset at Ewood Park come Saturday.

Manager Darren Moore will hope that his side can carry over their league form into the cup, having won six of their last eight matches lifting them to fourth in the table.

Despite a strong start in the league, Doncaster will have to be at their best to beat Blackburn. Donny have been eliminated from nine of their last 10 FA Cup ties against sides from a higher division, except for a 3-1 win at Preston North End in January 2019.

Donny have to go back to 2017 to find their last win over Blackburn when they ran out 3-1 winners, but have been defeated in their last two, going down 1-0 and 3-2.

Blackburn Rovers form (all competitions): LWLDLW

Doncaster Rovers FA Cup form: WW
Doncaster Rovers form (all competitions): LWWWWL

Team News

Mowbray will likely rest Bradley Dack after he returned to action last weekend after a lengthy lay-off.

The Blackburn boss could also look to hand starts to the likes of Stewart Downing and Tom Trybull, should he wish to rest key players.

Moore had been faced with goalkeeping dilemmas after Stoke City recalled Joe Bursik but has managed to sign Ellery Balcombe from Brentford in recent days and he will be expected to be between the sticks come Saturday.

Aside from Balcombe, Moore is expected to name an unchanged side given the clean bill of health he has been afforded.

Blackburn Rovers possible starting lineup:
Kaminski; Nyambe, Lenihan, Ayala; Douglas; Downing, Johnson, Trybull; Elliott, Armstrong, Brereton

Doncaster Rovers possible starting lineup:
Balcombe; Halliday, Anderson, Butler, James; Whiteman, Smith, Taylor, Richards, Okenabirhie; John-Jules

We say: Blackburn Rovers 2-0 Doncaster Rovers

Despite Donny's strong showing in the league so far this season, we suspect that it might not be enough to get past Blackburn, who boast much attacking threat in the final third. We expect Mowbray's men to come through this one and move on to the next round for the first time in four years.

Top betting tip

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