Doncaster Rovers v Crewe Alex 23/24 Preview - El Not So Crapico

This got dubbed El Crapico back in the 21/22 season, when both sides were dire and went down together. Last season it sort of deserved to keep the title, given both sides struggled in the bottom half when they faced each other. The last visit to the Keepmoat in particular was one of the deadest games I've ever seen, as an injury hit Donny side rolled over and gave the Alex the easiest win they're ever likely to get. This season I don't think it'll be quite as one sided. Here is my preview of the visit to Yorkshire.

Improving

The reason this won't be such a dead game is the Alex are decent. But, Donny aren't as bad as they were earlier in the season. Ok, they aren't great, but they have been showing signs of improvement of late. They have lost 1 of their last 7 at Walsall and have been slowly getting key players back from injury like Jamie Sterry and Zain Westbrooke. The form of L2 January POTM Hakeem Adelakun has also been a revelation, whilst we know the quality Joe Ironside and Luke Molyneux possess. This is shaping up to be a very tough game.

Tired?

I always like the games where the Alex haven't played the Tuesday before and the opposition have. Donny went up to Bradford on Tuesday, on a horrible pitch. The Alex were sat at home with their feet up. That has to be an advantage for them as they'll likely be fresher in the latter stages of this game. As long as they don't get the subs wrong or get lulled into a false sense of security, then I fancy their chances in the final 20 minutes.

7 Unbeaten

2011-12. One of the most famous seasons in the club history and the club are approaching certain stats from that season. That was the last season they went 7 unbeaten on the road, when they went 2-5-0 down the stretch in their march to the play-offs. This season in their current 6 game run, they have gone 4-2-0, something they almost never do, which is winning consistently on the road.

A result would match their run from the end of the 11/12 season. Can they do it?

Better

The Alex need to bounce back from the shocker of the final 25 minutes last week. Lucky this game is on the road, where they've looked far more comfortable over the last 2 months. Win your home games, draw your away ones. Well, when you lose your home ones, you need to get results from your away ones. They don't want to be going into a desperate Sutton at home next Tuesday off the back of 2 straight defeats. They could really do with grabbing something from this game.

Ref Watch

Craig Hicks

After getting an inexperienced ref last week in Farai Hallam, they get one from the other end of the spectrum in Hicks. Hicks is in his 7th season in the EFL. He's done a number of Crewe games and they seem to be mostly away. He's done this fixture before, back in 2020 when the Alex beat Doncaster 2-1 thanks to goals from Charlie Kirk and Harry Pickering. Another win and Kirk goal tomorrow would be nice.

Although, his last Alex game was last seasons defeat at Salford, where he sent of Bass Sambou. So maybe less of that.

2023/24 Record: 22 games(10 League One, 5 League Two, 4 EFL Trophy, 1 League Cup, 2 FA Cup)

Last Game: Peterborough United 5-1 Northampton Town, 5th March 2024, League One, 2 yellows

Crewe Alex Record: 3-0-6, 12 yellows, 1 red

Injuries/Suspensions

Doncaster

Donny's injury list is hilarious. They look to be without keeper Ian Lawlor, defenders Jay McGrath, Jack Senior and Bobby Faulkner, midfielders George Broadbent, Ben Close and Conor Carty, attackers Jon Taylor and George Miller. It's a smaller list than earlier in the season, but still a lengthy one.

Crewe Alex

It looks like a rare positive week on the absences front. Joel Tabiner has recovered from illness to be back in contention, which is good. And fingers crossed there aren't any unspecified new missing players come 2pm tomorrow.

Should Tabiner return and no new players miss out, it'll leave only Jack Powell, Owen Lunt and Luke Offord as their long term absentees, with Chris Long seemingly still a few weeks away.

Team

Personally, I'm keeping it the same again. I don't think the starting XI did too much wrong last week, except from get complacent. Yes, the error for the first Morecambe goal by Davies is a concern, but he deserves another chance to show he can settle back down. He gets one more game before I'm dropping him for Booth.

The rest of the team stays the same also, because who would you look to change? CBR and Rowe aren't in good enough form, whilst Williams and Tabiner lack the fitness to bring them in. So trust in what I think is close to their best available XI and hope they bounce back from last weekend.

Score Prediction

It's going to be a tough game. But given how the Alex seem to prefer setting up away from home and how they've played since their defeat to Walsall, it gives me more confidence than if this were a home game to be honest. They need a result as they don't want to suffer back to back defeats heading into Sutton on Tuesday. I think they can win this one given the level of teams they've dispatched since the turn of the year on the road. But I'll take a point if I have to. This feels like a must not lose sort of game.

Doncaster Rovers 1-1 Crewe Alex