Doncaster Rovers vs Bristol Rovers Predictions

When they host Bristol Rovers at Keepmoat Stadium on Saturday afternoon, Doncaster will be looking to bounce back after three straight defeats (in all competitions). In contrast, the visitors will be hoping to extend a winning run that currently stands at four in all competitions.

It’s not been a bad first few months of the season for Doncaster, who currently sit in a respectable 11^th position, though they’ve gone off the boil of late, losing each of their last two.

The main problem for Doncaster is that their overall attacking efforts aren’t outweighing any defensive deficiencies, which is why they’ve scored and conceded the same amount. Fortunately, Darren Moore’s men have saved their best for Keepmoat, which is where they’ve scored 11 of their 13 goals.

In front of a home crowd, Moore’s side have won four, lost two and drawn one. From a performance point of view, Donny have looked good at home; they’ve generally dominated possession and have adopted an attacking approach, which has led to respectable averages of 1.57 goals for and 1.43 expected goals for.

Back at the start of the campaign, it looked as though Bristol Rovers would struggle, though they’ve since improved greatly. Saturday’s visitors come into this match having won each of their last three, while they’re unbeaten in six and have only lost one of their last nine. During that time, Rovers have scored a solid amount of goals, notching 15, while they’ve also defended well, shipping six, keeping five clean sheets.

However, for all Bristol Rovers have become a useful side, their efforts on the road haven’t been great. Away from home, Graham Coughlan’s men have won their last two, but they were pointless in three before that, while their underlying numbers, while not at all disastrous, aren’t too positive, as they’ve averaging 1.05 expected goals for and have conceded an average of 1.35.

On paper, as a side that has done reasonably well at home this term, Doncaster look the likely winners, though not quite as likely as the current prices suggest. For all they’ve not produced amazing numbers on their travels, Bristol Rovers have become a team that is very tough to beat, so it’s easy to feel that they should be shorter in the betting. On this basis, ‘Bristol Rovers +1 Handicap’ looks a solid option at the prices.