Chorley vs Doncaster Rovers Predictions

Chorley were moments away from securing a lucrative replay with Fleetwood at this stage of the competition last season, though they were made to swallow a bitter pill when the League One club scored a late, late winner. Having got themselves back into the first round, the National League North club will be hoping to improve on what they did last season.

Chorley will indeed be hoping to go one better than last year, though their recent form isn’t exactly inspiring. The hosts have lost each of their last three matches, conceding six and scoring just one in process. Such form doesn’t exactly bode well ahead of a match against one of the most dangerous sides in League One. However, as we all know, form can often go out of the window in the FA Cup.

If we are to focus on the home form of Sunday’s hosts, then it’s easy to see that Chorley are tough to beat when plying their trade at Victory Park in the National League North. Jamie Vermiglio’s men have lost just one of their nine competitive home matches during the current campaign, while they’ve won seven of those. Furthermore, they’ve kept six clean sheets during that time and have failed to score just once.

The hosts have done well at home this season, though they won’t have faced a side of Doncaster’s quality, that’s for sure. Grant McCann’s men have done well in League One this season, and although their recent form hasn’t been great, based on performances, it’s easy to fancy the visitors to do well in this fixture.

One the face of it, Doncaster are in poor form, though their performances of late haven’t been bad, especially from an attacking point of view. Donny created chances in defeat against Charlton last time out, while much of the same can be said for their matches against both Coventry and Sunderland before that. Interestingly, no team in League One has accumulated more expected goals for than Doncaster during the current campaign. With an average of 1.89 expected goals for in the third division, Grant McCann’s men ought to make light work of hurting sixth-tier opposition.

Doncaster have rarely failed to create chances in League One this season, as the underlying data suggests, while they’ve often had no problem scoring goals. Add in the fact that the sixth-tier side have been conceding goals of late – six in their last three and four in their last two at home – and it’s easy to get behind the League One visitors. At the prices, the bet that stands out is ‘Doncaster to Win & Over 1.5 Goals’. After all, there has been at least two goals scored in each of Doncaster’s away wins this season.