Preston North End boss Simon Grayson is preparing his charges for tomorrow evenings game with a potentially fired up Doncaster Rovers side in mind.
Paul Dickov’s side succumbed to a disappointing 3-1 home defeat to Port Vale last time out, but Grayson doesn’t expect Rovers to suffer from the affects of the loss last Saturday.
It’s been a mixed bag for Doncaster in the opening matches of the new season, with a 3-0 victory against Yeovil getting the ball rolling before a 1-0 win against York City in the Capital One Cup only for the momentum to be halted against Port Vale at the weekend.
But Grayson says that their defeat on Saturday won’t be a cause for an easy game come 7:45pm on Tuesday, with Doncaster still boasting Championship pedigree in their ranks.
“When a team’s been beaten at home, they’re obviously looking for a reaction very quickly,” said Grayson.
“We’ve always said from our point of view that if you’ve got a Tuesday game, it gives you the opportunity to put it right very quickly.
“I know Dickie [Paul Dickov] really well so I know he’ll have his team fired up and looking for a reaction, and from the reports that I’ve been told from our scouting system, there was nothing much in the game on Saturday.
“We know that they’ve got some good, experienced players that have played in the Championship.
“We know we’ve got to be, if anything better than the standards we set on Saturday because if you slip anywhere below it in any game then you don’t get the results that you want.”
It’s been an uncertain summer for Doncaster with their relegation woes coinciding with takeover rumours.
As a result, Doncaster have lost some of their first-team performers from last season such as David Cotterill, James Husband and Chris Brown and Grayson has acknowledged the difficulties his opposing boss on Tuesday will have gone through over the summer.
“I think there was a lot of speculation and talk about the takeover that was going to happen, and there was going to be a large injection of money and a turnaround of the squad,” analysed Grayson.
“I suppose if Paul had known that that wasn’t going to be the case he would probably have tried to keep hold of one or two of the players that have left.
“But it’s happened and they’ve got new players coming in now and they obviously had first and foremost a great result at Yeovil in the first game of the season and then a disappointing game at the weekend.
“We’ll focus and concentrate on what we need to do and make sure that we improve in certain areas and make sure we keep ticking along nicely with the things that we’re doing well in."
It’s the second time in four days that Preston are to hit the road after an emphatic 4-0 win away to Scunthorpe United on Saturday.
And with promotion aspirations on the agenda, picking up away wins so early on in the season can only benefit towards the cause.
Grayson continued “I think when you start the week and you’ve got two away games if you can bring back four points you’ll be pleased and if you can bring back six points then obviously you’ll be very pleased.
“It’s a situation that we’ve given ourselves a good platform to build on from Saturday’s result, but again we’ll go into it and try and do the right things and play from the shape of the team we’ve got.
“The personnel that are in the team have to keep performing because of the players that are out of the squad and that will be a big thing for us this year.”
It’s been a mixed bag for Doncaster in the opening matches of the new season, with a 3-0 victory against Yeovil getting the ball rolling before a 1-0 win against York City in the Capital One Cup only for the momentum to be halted against Port Vale at the weekend.
But Grayson says that their defeat on Saturday won’t be a cause for an easy game come 7:45pm on Tuesday, with Doncaster still boasting Championship pedigree in their ranks.
“When a team’s been beaten at home, they’re obviously looking for a reaction very quickly,” said Grayson.
“We’ve always said from our point of view that if you’ve got a Tuesday game, it gives you the opportunity to put it right very quickly.
“I know Dickie [Paul Dickov] really well so I know he’ll have his team fired up and looking for a reaction, and from the reports that I’ve been told from our scouting system, there was nothing much in the game on Saturday.
“We know that they’ve got some good, experienced players that have played in the Championship.
“We know we’ve got to be, if anything better than the standards we set on Saturday because if you slip anywhere below it in any game then you don’t get the results that you want.”
It’s been an uncertain summer for Doncaster with their relegation woes coinciding with takeover rumours.
As a result, Doncaster have lost some of their first-team performers from last season such as David Cotterill, James Husband and Chris Brown and Grayson has acknowledged the difficulties his opposing boss on Tuesday will have gone through over the summer.
“I think there was a lot of speculation and talk about the takeover that was going to happen, and there was going to be a large injection of money and a turnaround of the squad,” analysed Grayson.
“I suppose if Paul had known that that wasn’t going to be the case he would probably have tried to keep hold of one or two of the players that have left.
“But it’s happened and they’ve got new players coming in now and they obviously had first and foremost a great result at Yeovil in the first game of the season and then a disappointing game at the weekend.
“We’ll focus and concentrate on what we need to do and make sure that we improve in certain areas and make sure we keep ticking along nicely with the things that we’re doing well in."
It’s the second time in four days that Preston are to hit the road after an emphatic 4-0 win away to Scunthorpe United on Saturday.
And with promotion aspirations on the agenda, picking up away wins so early on in the season can only benefit towards the cause.
Grayson continued “I think when you start the week and you’ve got two away games if you can bring back four points you’ll be pleased and if you can bring back six points then obviously you’ll be very pleased.
“It’s a situation that we’ve given ourselves a good platform to build on from Saturday’s result, but again we’ll go into it and try and do the right things and play from the shape of the team we’ve got.
“The personnel that are in the team have to keep performing because of the players that are out of the squad and that will be a big thing for us this year.”