Portsmouth

IN OPPOSITION: PORTSMOUTH

MEET THE BOSS: DANNY COWLEY

A man who seems to have been around for years, however at the age of 43 Danny Cowley is one of the EFL’s youngest managers. Cowley started as a player in non-league circles representing Barking, Romford, AFC Hornchurch and Brentwood to name but a few, however injury cut his playing career short.

An assistant manager role at Concord Rangers followed, who at the time were playing in the Essex Senior Football League, and it wasn’t long before Cowley took on the role of first-team manager.

Three promotions during his tenure took Concord to the National League South, before Cowley moved on to manage Braintree Town in 2015/16 where, in his first season at the club, they achieved their highest-ever finish of 3rd place in the National League.

His success at Braintree didn’t go unnoticed as Lincoln City came calling in the summer of 2016, and he was to have similar success at the Imps. In his first season, Cowley guided Lincoln back to the EFL as National League champions, as well as achieving great success in the FA Cup, where the Imps reached the Quarter-Finals, eventually losing out to Arsenal. Upon their return to the EFL, Lincoln were victorious in the EFL Trophy in 2018 in what was their first-ever Wembley Stadium appearance, and the 2018/19 campaign saw them promoted to League One.

Huddersfield Town came calling for Cowley and he joined the Championship side in September 2019 however, despite a promising things didn’t quite progress as planned and although the Terriers remained in the Championship, they parted company in July 2020.

In March 2021, Cowley was appointed manager at Pompey where he will be hoping to guide them back to the Championship. With 12 games under his belt last season and a win percentage of 50%, Cowley has had some time to identify the challenges that lie ahead coming into this season.

NEW TO POMPEY: SUMMER SIGNINGS

CONNOR OGILVIE

Signed from Gillingham, where he had been for the previous four seasons, Ogilvie initially joined the Gills on loan from Tottenham Hotspur, until they made it a permanent move in May 2019. The versatile 25-year-old can play at the heart of the defence or as left back.

SHAUN WILLIAMS

Dublin-born Williams joined Pompey from Millwall where he made over 250 appearances for the London club. The 34-year-old defensive midfielder is sure to add experience to the squad, having also been capped by the Republic of Ireland on three occasions.

CLARK ROBERTSON

The 27-year-old Aberdonian centre-back joined from Donny’s local neighbours Rotherham United in the summer, having previously played for Aberdeen and Blackpool.

KIERON FREEMAN

Having previously been on loan at Portsmouth in 2016, the Welsh right-back re-joined having left Swansea City in the summer. The 29-year-old has spent much of his career at Sheffield United where he made over 100 appearances between 2015-2020. He has also been capped once by Wales.

Shaun Williams

RYAN TUNNICLIFFE

The 28-year-old midfielder was raised through the youth ranks of Manchester United before joining Fulham in 2014. Having played in the Championship throughout his career, he joined from Luton Town in the summer and will be hoping for a quick return to the second tier with Pompey.

JAYDEN REID

Another player who came through the youth system of Manchester United and also Swansea City, Reid was signed professionally by Birmingham City in 2019, but having only made a handful of appearances in his time the forward will be looking to push on, down on the south coast.

GAVIN BAZUNA

The 19-year-old Dublin-born keeper joins Portsmouth on loan from Manchester City for the season, though he is yet to make a first-team appearance at the Etihad. Bazuna spent time on loan at Rochdale last season, making 29 league appearances. During 2021 he was called up to the Republic of Ireland squad and now has four caps to his name.

GEORGE HIRST

The 6ft 3 forward signed on loan from Leicester City where he’s twice appeared in the Premier League. With plenty of South Yorkshire connections, Sheffieldborn Hirst started his career at Hillsborough, where his dad David was also a big hit, and spent last season in the Championship on loan at Rotherham United.

SHARED 5-A-SIDE

CURTIS MAIN

2014-16 DRFC 58 GOALS 11 2016-17 PFC 23 APPS 6 GOALS

ENDA STEVENS

2013-15 DRFC 46 APPS 1 GOAL 2015-17 PFC 99 APPS 7 GOALS

JOE LAIDLAW

1976-79 DRFC 128 APPS 27 GOALS 1979-80 PFC 60 APPS 19 GOALS

JOHN MONCUR

1986 DRFC 4 APPS 0 GOALS 1989 PFC 7 APPS 0 GOALS

JOHN MARQUIS

2016-19 DRFC 153 APPS 67 GOALS 2013-14 & 2019-21 PFC 103 APPS 35 GOALS

WE'VE MET BEFORE

PORTSMOUTH WORDS: John Coyle

Portsmouth joined the Football League in 1920, along with the rest of Southern League Division One, becoming founder members of Division Three. A year later the division was redesigned as Division Three (South). In 1923 Rovers joined the League as members of Division Three (North).

The clubs did not meet until January 1947, by which time Portsmouth had spent 13 seasons in Division One and won the FA Cup in 1939. Rovers were top of Division Three (North) when the FA Cup Third Round tie was played in front of a Belle Vue crowd of 24,129.

Portsmouth raced into a 2-0 lead after 18 minutes, goals coming from Jack Froggatt and former Rover Cliff Parker. Jackie Kirkaldie pulled one back for Rovers before the interval but Froggatt’s second appeared to settle the tie. Rovers skipper Paul Todd had other ideas scoring on 77 minutes to set up a thrilling finish, but Portsmouth held on for a 3-2 win.

The clubs met again in the FA Cup in the 1951/52 season, with Portsmouth winning a Fifth-Round tie 4-0 at Fratton Park – the first time Rovers had reached the Fifth Round. The first League encounter didn’t come until October 1978 at Belle Vue. Jeff Hemmerman twice put Portsmouth in front only for Joe Laidlaw and Dave Bentley to make it 2-2. With seven minutes left Peter Denyer made it 3-2 for the visitors, and this was the final score. The Division Four clash attracted a crowd of 2,480, about 10% the size of the 1947 crowd. Rovers’ first win over Portsmouth came in October 1979, on a Friday night at Belle Vue. The visitors were top of Division Four and the M1 was packed with several thousand Pompey fans who formed part of a season’s best crowd of 9,801. Steve Lister put Rovers in front two minutes before half time and soon after the break Alan Warboys hammered in a penalty. Rovers won 2-0 but Portsmouth had the last laugh, sealing promotion on goal difference (aided by a 2-0 win over Rovers in the Fratton Park return game).

Moving into the 21st Century, Rovers and Portsmouth have been familiar opponents. Portsmouth enjoyed their first three visits to the Keepmoat Stadium with two wins and a draw. Rovers eventually broke their duck in January 2017, as both sides battled for promotion from League Two. Rovers produced a splendid performance in front of the Sky TV cameras to win 3-1 with goals from John Marquis (2) and Tommy Rowe, players likely to be in opposition this afternoon.

Coming up to date, Rovers completed a double over Portsmouth last season for only the second time ever, Reece James scoring at both Fratton Park and the Keepmoat Stadium. Here’s hoping someone else can seize the moment for Rovers today.

DONCASTER ROVERS HOME LEAGUE RECORD V PORTSMOUTH:

DATE VENUE RESULT GOALSCORERS 17/10/1978 Belle Vue L 2 3 Laidlaw, Bentley 26/10/1979 Belle Vue W 2 0 Lister, Warboys (pen) 05/12/1981 Belle Vue D 0 0 30/04/1983 Belle Vue L 0 2 12/02/2011 Keepmoat L 0 2 14/04/2012 Keepmoat L 3 4 Beye, Robert, Coppinger 16/03/2013 Keepmoat D 1 1 Brown C 05/01/2017 Keepmoat W 3 1 Marquis (2), Rowe 17/10/2017 Keepmoat W 2 1 Mandeville,Burgess (og) 25/08/2018 Keepmoat D 0 0 05/10/2019 Keepmoat L 1 2 James 02/03/2021 Keepmoat W 2 1 James, Okenabirhie