Ipswich Town travel to bottom-of-the league Doncaster Rovers tonight (7.45pm). Mark Heath takes a look at Rovers...

Story so far

Like Gillingham on Saturday, Doncaster are having a dreadful season.

They sit bottom of the League One table, level on points with the Gills and Crewe, but beneath them courtesy of their poorer minus 36 goal difference.

Rovers are eight points from safety with 16 games remaining, so in need of quite a turnaround if they are to have any hope of staying in the third tier.

Town thrashed them 6-0 at Portman Road on September 28 of course, but Rovers have changed managers since then - former Premier League star Gary McSheffrey replaced ex-Ipswich Town loanee Richie Wellens back in December.

He's won three out of his 11 league games in charge so far, including the biggest win of the season on Saturday...

Sunderland slapped

Rovers went to high-flying Sunderland on Saturday - a side who beat them 3-0 at home just after Christmas - and came home with all three points courtesy of a 2-1 win.

Debut-making striker Reo Griffiths - more on him shortly - and veteran campaigner Tommy Rowe put them 2-0 up at the break, before a late goal from the Black Cats halved the deficit.

But Donny hung on for a huge three points, spoiling the second Sunderland debut of Jermain Defoe.

The result wasn't the only decent one in recent games for Rovers either - they also beat promotion-chasing MK Dons 1-0 away on January 22.

Springboard win?

After the Sunderland game, McSheffrey said: "Hopefully the win against Sunderland can be a springboard. We have a lot of difficult games coming up.

“We have two wins from four games which I think is good form because I would snap your hand off for one win in every two games between now and the end of the season.

“Barring the game against Rotherham, our performances of late have been positive.”

Home horrors

While the above road results have been positive, Rovers have struggled mightily at home.

They were thumped 5-0 by table-toppers Rotherham last time out, and have lost five in a row at the Keepmoat, conceding 14 goals in the process.

They were also dumped out of the FA Cup at home back in December, beaten 3-2 by League Two Mansfield.

If Town can start fast tonight, will Rovers crumble?

Ones to watch

Aforementioned striker Griffiths made quite the impact on his debut, and arrived at Doncaster packing some serious pedigree.

The 21-year-old signed from Lyon on deadline day, where he scored 15 goal in 39 games for their U19 and B teams.

He is a product of Tottenham's youth set-up, and will be a man Town need to be wary of tonight.

McSheffrey is certainly expecting big things. He said of the young striker: "Reo is not close to full match fitness yet so from that perspective there’s more to come from him.

“He is one of the best young players I have seen in training throughout my entire football career. He has shown glimpses of what he can do against Sunderland for 80 minutes.”

Donny's leading scorer this season is veteran campaigner Rowe, with six goals in 36 games from midfield.