With nothing but goal difference to separate them in the League Two table, Doncaster Rovers and Salford City square up to one another at the Keepmoat Stadium on Tuesday evening.

Grant McCann's side edged past Tranmere Rovers in a 2-1 triumph on Friday, while their visitors shook hands on a point apiece with Swindon Town in a 2-2 draw.

Match preview

Already in the midst of an alarming injury crisis, Doncaster Rovers also fell victim to a sickness bug ahead of their trip to a basement-battling Tranmere Rovers on Friday - an outbreak severe enough to force the closure of their training ground and restrict McCann's team to a single practice session.

Doncaster's cause against Tranmere was not helped by a first-half red card to manager McCann for booting the ball away, but Harrison Biggins had already put Rovers ahead by that point, and Mo Faal doubled the visitors' lead with 57 minutes on the clock.

Connor Jennings set up a tense finale with his response 70 minutes from time, but the drenched Doncaster fans were the ones signing in the rain by the full-time whistle, as Rovers clung on for back-to-back wins after their 4-1 thrashing of Sutton United last weekend.

Assistant head coach Cliff Byrne - who will oversee operations from the touchline this week during McCann's absence - waxed lyrical about his side's second-half resilience as they moved onto 17 points for the season, appropriately good enough for 17th place in the rankings, and they are closer to the playoff line than the relegation zone points-wise.

Unless Storm Babet continues to wreak devastation on Doncaster, Rovers will take to the Keepmoat Stadium field aiming to secure a fifth successive home win across all tournaments this week, having put Gillingham, Sutton, Crawley Town and Everton's Under-21s to the sword in front of their own fans.

While Salford fans may have a few gripes with their team's indifferent start to the new season, they can never claim to have witnessed a boring performance from their troops over the past few weeks, as Neil Wood's troops matched Swindon's fire with their own fire to hold out for a stalemate after having a man sent off on Saturday.

Ethan Ingram and Remeao Hutton cancelled each other out with strikes in the opening 11 minutes, but the writing appeared to be on the wall for Salford late on, as Curtis Tilt was sent off for a last-man foul and Charlie Austin did the rest from the penalty spot.

There was one last twist to the tale, though, as 19-year-old Liam Humbles found the net with five minutes gone in second-half injury time to dramatically salvage a point for the hosts, who avoided losing three games on the bounce by the skin of their teeth following previous defeats to Stockport County and Wrexham.

A draw was enough to keep 16th-placed Salford clear of their upcoming hosts for the time being, but Wood is under no illusions that his side require improvement in defence, and fast; the Ammies have now conceded at least twice in each of their last four games, shipping 10 in total.

On a brighter note, Salford have now netted in six successive matches - scoring multiple times on five of those occasions - and they put Doncaster to the sword 3-1 on home soil back in March, although their only Keepmoat encounter to date ended with Rovers succeeding 2-1 last August.

Team News

Doncaster's depleted reserves suffered yet another blow on Friday night, as centre-back Joseph Olowu sustained a hip injury in the warm-up, so George Broadbent should be on hand to deputise for the 23-year-old again.

Last week, McCann revealed that all of Louie Marsh (arm), Bobby Faulkner (ankle), Jon Taylor and Caolan Lavery (both knee) would require operations to address their issues, while George Miller, Jamie Sterry and James Maxwell were not quite ready to return against Tranmere either.

Midfielder Ben Close also looked a little worse for wear as he was taken off towards the end of Friday's game, so 20-year-old Jack Degruchy should be on standby for the hosts here.

Meanwhile, Salford defender Tilt will join McCann on the suspension step owing to his red card in the draw with Swindon, and with Theo Vassell missing that encounter, right-back Liam Shephard may be forced to step in alongside Adrian Mariappa.

Luke Garbutt was sacrificed at half time in the Ammies' most recent encounter, but that was seemingly a tactical alteration from Wood, who should offer the 30-year-old a chance to redeem himself on the left flank.

Doncaster Rovers possible starting lineup:
Jones; Nixon, Anderson, Bailey; Molyneux, Close, Biggins, Westbrook, Broadbent; Faal, Ironside

Salford City possible starting lineup:
Cairns; Ingram, Shephard, Mariappa, John; Watt; Bolton, Watson, Mallan, Garbutt; Smith

We say: Doncaster Rovers 1-2 Salford City

Doncaster's feats at Tranmere amid their injury and illness crisis were admirable, and the hosts have developed a winning feeling at the Keepmoat Stadium, but squad shortages should catch up to Rovers here.

While Salford are far from convincing on the defensive front, Wood's side are far more reliable going forward and ought to steer clear of their hosts with a midweek maximum.


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