Watford v Doncaster Preview

Posted on | August 7, 2009 | No Comments

In terms of playing personnel, these two sides have gone through very few changes this summer. However, Watford have had a change of manager and it remains to be seen how the inexperienced Malky Mackay copes with his first job in management. Doncaster on the other hand will be hoping to build on their impressive first season in the Championship, which saw them draw plenty of plaudits as they passed their way to a 14^th place finish.

Watford’s pre-season was rocked when it was announced that Brendan Rodgers would be leaving the club to take over at Reading, even though he’d been at Vicarage Road for less than a year. That showed just how well Rodgers had performed and new manager Malky Mackay definitely has a tough act to follow. The only high-profile exit has been that of midfielder Lee Williamson but other than that, the Hornets have kept their playing squad pretty much the same. They’ve only made two signings with Scott Severin arriving from Aberdeen while Danny Graham was signed from Carlisle. With that, Mackay will be hoping that he can pick up right where Rodgers left and help progress the club from their 13^th place finish last season.

As for Doncaster ,most of their transfer activity has involved players leaving the Keepmoat Stadium. Sean O’Driscoll has lost several key players this summer, most notably defender Matt Mills and midfielder Ritchie Wellens. Both of those went for large amounts of money but despite this, Rovers have been reluctant to dip into the transfer market. In the last couple of weeks they have signed former Manchester United midfielder Quinton Fortune and defensive duo Byron Webster and Mustapha Dumbuya, but other than that it’s been a relatively quiet summer. Bearing in mind the influence of both Mills and Wellens last season, it remains to be seen whether or not O’Driscoll can build on their excellent first season and make a push for the top half.

In terms of team news, Watford have very few concerns and Malky Mackay could hand debuts to all of his new recruits. It’s a bit of a different story for Doncaster who look set to be without Jos van Nieuwstadt, James Chambers and James O’Connor who are all struggling with injuries. However, just like his opposite number, all of Sean O’Driscoll’s new recruits are fit and available to make their debuts.

These two sides finished right next to each other in the table and in terms of players, there has been very little turnaround for both. However, the loss of Matt Mills and Ritchie Wellens will have hurt Doncaster and with Watford holding the home advantage, we think they could just nick this with a 1-0 victory.

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