Harrogate Town v Doncaster Rovers: Sulphurites aiming to complete first league double of campaign

The Sulphurites entertain their Yorkshire rivals at Wetherby Road on Saturday afternoon (1pm), where they will be looking to follow up on a 1-0 opening-day win on the road.

A stoppage-time equaliser at Morecambe prevented Simon Weaver’s team from completing home and away victories over the Shrimps on New Year’s Day, though history is on their side when it comes to fixtures against Rovers.

Town triumphed in South Yorkshire back in August courtesy of Jack Muldoon’s second-half penalty, a result which leaves them unbeaten in three League Two meetings with Doncaster.

Last term, Harrogate won 2-0 on the road thanks to goals from Luke Armstrong and Alex Pattison, then came back from two down to draw 2-2 at Wetherby Road through Armstrong and Tom Eastman.

In terms of the sides' recent form, 14th-placed Town are performing as well as they have been all season, having lost just one of their last six League Two matches and taken 10 points from the 15 on offer over the festive period.

Doncaster, by comparison, have been far more inconsistent, but are starting to show some signs of improvement.

Comprehensive home defeats to Morecambe and Bradford City were followed by another heavy reverse on the road at Notts County, but they then went and took a point off second-placed Mansfield in their final fixture of 2023.

And 19th-placed Rovers made the perfect start to the new year, rattling in three first-half goals as they romped to a 3-0 success over promotion-chasing MK Dons last time out.

Town hope to have midfielder Stephen Dooley available for selection again at the weekend after he missed Monday’s trip to Morecambe due to tightness in his groin.

But Matty Daly, who was absent against the Shrimps with a similar issue, is set to miss out once again.

"I think Matty is going to be missing this Saturday,” Weaver said.

“His groin is a bit better than it was before the game at Morecambe, but it is still a little bit sore, so we would be risking causing further damage if he did play, so it rules him out."

The attacking midfielder joins goalkeepers Mark Oxley, Jonathan Mitchell, Lewis Thomas and defenders Toby Sims, Rod McDonald and Joe Mattock on the Sulphurites' casualty list.

With such issues in the goalkeeping department, Bristol Rovers stopper James Belshaw’s emergency loan deal has been extended for another seven days, with Weaver still in negotiations over bringing the 33-year-old back to Wetherby Road on a permanent basis.

"We are trying hard, but it has got to be a three-way agreement between ourselves, the agent and the team, Bristol Rovers, who he is contracted to,” the Harrogate chief explained.

"Until they are happy with the deal, we can’t go ahead. I think that we are nearing it, but we’ve got him for another week on an emergency loan, which takes the panic out of it, but we certainly are trying hard as a club to bring him in full-time.”