Rovers chairman John Ryan has publicly expressed his faith that Dave Penney will turn the fortunes of the club around, and that results will improve to lift the club off the bottom of the table.
He said: "I have every confidence in Dave's ability to turn things around and get us back to winning ways. Last Saturday's second-half performance at Colchester showed what we are capable of - we now need to start winning games. Obviously there been concern at our start to the season but as soon the players start gelling a little better I'm sure we will start to see an improvement in results."

The Rovers' Supporters Club are running coaches to next Saturday's away game at Barnsley. Coaches will leave Retford at 11.45am, Bawtry 12.15, Hare & Tortoise 12.20, Punches 12.25, Doncaster Royal Infirmary 12.30, Belle Vue 12.45am.
The North Doncaster branch coach will leave Carcroft Club at 12.00 noon, Bentley Pavilion 12.10, Don Valley Jossey Lane 12.20, Woodlands Cooplands 12.30.
The fares are:
Members: £6.00, OAP’s £5.00, U16’s: £4.00
Non-members: £7.00, U16’s: £5.00
To book, or for more information, please contact: Len South on 01302 817347, Paul Mayfield on 01427 880154 (Mobile 077404 53066) or Warren Hanson (North Doncaster) 01302 337303 or 07787 926809.

Rovers turned on the style last night as they convincingly beat Scunthorpe United in a reserve team clash that comes only four days before the two clubs clash at first team level. Rovers got off to a good start, with a second minute goal from Paul Heffernan coming after the visitors failed to clear the ball out of defence. Rovers' second goal had to wait until the 74th minute, when Adam Hughes' shot took a deflection to give Capp in the United goal no chance of keeping the ball out. The final goal came in the closing minutes as Neil Roberts was fouled in the penalty area - with Roberts stepping up to take the spot kick and finish off a great evening for Rovers.
A special mention must be made of two players - Simon Marples, who made a return to action after a long injury lay-off, and Anthony Griffiths, a youth team player who impressed in midfield.
Now, we just have to reproduce the same result on Saturday!

Rovers winger Jermaine McSporran sees a specialist in the next few days, and is hopeful of getting the all-clear to resume light training. McSporran appears to be well ahead of the previously anticipated schedule, and is hoping to start running later this week, with a projected return to playing in a couple of months time. He said: "It has been a long time but everything is going well and ahead of schedule. I'm seeing a specialist in the next few days to get the all clear and then hopefully I can start running. I'm looking at the next couple of months, if all goes well, to get back in contention to play. It's been slow and it's been hard but at least there's light at the end of the tunnel now."
McSporran has been out of action since suffering a serious knee injury against Bradford City in March.

John Cornforth, who played for Rovers in November/December 1986 whilst on loan from Sunderland, has been sacked as manager of Newport County after the club made a poor start to their Conference South campaign. Cornforth had been in the job for just under a year, but County need a win on the last day of last season to avoid relegation. County have collected just four points from their opening seven league games.

Rovers boss Dave Penney has insisted that he will not hesitate to change his team if he thinks that the players are not playing well enough. Whilst Penney was pleased with Rovers' second half performance on Saturday at Colchester, he did warn: "I don't think there ever has been a comfort zone. If there comes a time when the players are playing well, then they will stay in the team, but if they are not then we will change it."

Doncaster Rovers will hold the draw for the naming rights to the Town End of Belle Vue at Saturday's game against Scunthorpe United. It is intended that the club will present the name board, complete with the winner's chosen name, to the winner at the Manchester City game. Draw tickets will remain on sale until the weekend, and are available from the Rovers club offices.

On-loan Jonathan Forte has won the "Man of the Match" voting for his performance in last Saturday's away game at Colchester United. Forte won the vote with almost 27% of the vote, ahead of Michael McIndoe, Paul Green, Leo Fortune West and Mark Albrighton, who all tied in second place with a little over 15% of the votes cast.
Thank you to everyone who took part in the vote. The next one will open following Saturday's home game against Scunthorpe United.

Whilst clearly disappointed to have lost another game, Dave Penney took some consolation by the vastly improved performance of his side after the break of Saturday's match at Colchester United. Ultimately two own goals and three disallowed goals led to Rovers' downfall, but Penney said of the game: "I want to play more football like that. We got the ball higher up the field and caused plenty of problems. Sadly it's another defeat, though. We've got to be tough now and stick together to get through this. I'm disappointed by the result, but very heartened by the second-half performance."

The Viking Supporters' Co-operative have reported that they collected £34.21 for their Coin Trail appeal at Saturday's game. This means that the new total is £35,485.32, which has been raised towards the costs of running the Rovers' youth team.

Please note that the forthcoming home games against Scunthorpe United and Manchester City are all-ticket, with no tickets being sold on the day of the game.
Both matches now have tickets on open sale, and the ticket office is open between 10am and 4pm this week, and will stay open until 7pm on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The Scunthorpe match has the following ticket prices:
Seating: Adults £18.00, Concessions £12.00
Standing: Adults £15.00, Concessions £8.00
Tickets for the Manchester City game are now on general sale, and are also now available to be bought on the Internet. Ticket prices for that game are:
Seating: Adults £18.00, Concessions £12.00
Standing: Adults £15.00, Concessions £5.00

The Rovers' youth team defeated Grimsby Town 3-0 at Cantley Park yesterday morning. No further details are currently available.

Whilst no former Doncaster Rovers players scored goals in the Football League yesterday, there were a number that scored in non-league football.
In the Conference National, Steve Burton scored Crawley Town's third goal as they defeated Canvey Island 3-1 at home. In the Nationwide North, Michael Rankine scored a last minute equaliser for Barrow as they drew 2-2 at Droylsden, and Mark Sale scored Northwich Victoria's opening goal on their way to a 4-1 victory at Hednesford Town, a result that puts them three points clear at the top of the table.
We also notice that former Rovers striker Colin Cramb received a straight red card yesterday afternoon for raising his arm in a tangle with Arbroath's Kevin McMullen when playing for Stenhousemuir in the Scottish Third Division. However, his team mates ralled to score a late equaliser. The game finished 1-1.
Finally, in the first qualifying round of the FA Cup, ex-Rover Micky Norbury headed home a Danny Hudson cross to score the only goal of the game as Belper Town narrowly defeated Leek. Norbury also scored during their 2-2 draw in a midweek match against Spalding United.

Former Doncaster Rovers youth team player Scott Willis has joined Nationwide North club Vauxhall Motors on a three month loan from rivals Stalybridge Celtic. Willis signed for Stalybridge at the end of last season, and names Runcorn, Northwich Victoria, Hereford United, Halifax Town, Wigan Athletic,, Mansfield Town, Carlisle United and Lincoln City amongst his previous clubs, and is still only 23 years old.

Despite making a much improved performance after the break, Rovers slumped to another League One defeat at Layer Road this afternoon, with the result meaning that Rovers finish the day at the bottom of the League One table Rovers went a goal down after less than a minute. Despite drawing level thanks to a Jonathan Forte goal barely three minutes later, two own goals, from Sean McDaid and Steve Foster, put Colchester 3-1 ahead by the half time break. A much better performance by Rovers saw Michael McIndoe pull a further goal back from the penalty spot, but with three claims for Rovers goals being diallowed, Rovers could not make up the deficit.
If you would like to take part in the "man of the match" voting, please click on the logo to the left.

Doncaster Rovers have Sean Thornton (groin) and James Coppinger (dead leg)facing late fitness tests before Dave Penney names his side for this afternoon's away game at Colchester United. However, Tim Ryan definitely misses the game with an achilles tendon problem. Better news comes with the return of Paul Green, who has missed a number of games with an ankle injury, which will be a huge boost to the Rovers midfield.
Mark Albrighton, Steve Roberts and Uros Predic all played a full game in the reserves against York in midweek, adn areavailable for selection.
We expect that winger Michael McIndoe will return to the side after recovering from a knee injury, and that on-loan Jonathan Forte may be moved up to play as a striker this afternoon alongside Neil Roberts.

Colchester also have a number of injury problems to be considered before their manager, Phil Parkinson, names his side for this afternoon's game at Layer Road. Defender Wayne Brown is suspenced, and fellow defenders Pat Baldwin (hamstring) and Liam Chilvers (knee) face late fitness tests, but Sam Stockley (hamstring) and Neil Danns (stomach) will definitely be missing from the U's defence today. Youngsters George Elokobi and John White (both 19) and 20-year olds Greg Halford and Stephen Hunt may be called upon to form an inexperienced back four. The latest news is that Stockley, Chilvers and Baldwin are all rated as 50-50 to play today.
Long-term casualties Karl Duguid and Richard Garcia are also unavailable.

Former Rovers defender Lee Warren has joined UniBond First Division club Brigg Town after making just five appearances for Goole AFC this season. Warren moved to Goole after leaving Lee Turnbull's Barrow side at the end of last season, and has also formerly played for Rochdale, Hull City and Leeds United.

The Rovers' reserve side is at home to Grimsby Town this morning. The match kicks off at 11am, and is being played at Cantley Park.

Chris Brown, who gained promotion with Doncaster Rovers in the 2003/04 season whilst on a long-term loan from Sunderland, has joined Hull City on a three month loan. Brown has hardly featured for Sunderland's first team this season after making 38 appearances last term, albeit mainly from the substitutes' bench. Still aged only 20, Brown said: "It'll be nice to meet some different people and play a bit of regular football. When the England Under-21 manager wants you to come on loan you can't be anything but keen. Once I knew Hull City were interested and the gaffer said that I could be playing regular football, there wasn't really a decision to make."

Cardiff City striker Andy Campbell, who spent a short time on loan at Rovers, has joined Oxford United on a four month loan deal after being frozen out by Cardiff boss Dave Jones. After failing to win a place in the first team under previous Cardiff boss, Lennie Lawrence, new boss Jones immediately told Campbell that he could leave, despite urgently looking for a striker.
The Cardiff striker joined the U's on transfer deadline day, but has an opportunity to rebuild his career in League Two.
He said: "I've come here to kick-start myself and kick-start Oxford. It's been a disappointing time for me at Cardiff lately but until December 31 I'm an Oxford United player and will be doing my best to score goals for Oxford. Dropping down to League Two's not a problem for me, football's football, I just want to be playing regularly and scoring goals and I'm definitely up for it, and if I can score enough goals for Oxford, maybe it will turn into something longer."

Doncaster Rovers Belles recorded their biggest victory for over a year last weekend when they won 4-1 at Birmingham City, thanks to goals from Pauline Hamill (2), Michelle Walsh and Carla Cantrell.
The victory comes after the Belles' victory at Fulham the previous weekend, but John Buckley's injury-hit squad could not keep the good form going, and went down to a 3-0 home defeat to Everton on Wednesday evening. They now face Liverpool at home in the League Cup on Sunday (kick-off 2pm at Cantley Park).

Doncaster Rovers named a strong side for last night's reserve team game at York City, with a number of players making a return to action after missing games due to injury, along with a number of players who were not involved in last Friday's first team game.
Rovers started the match off well, with York attacking on the counterattack, but failed to convert the number of chances that came their way. Rovers suffered a set-back when Phil McGuire was sent off nine minutes before the interval as he conceded a penalty, judged to be the last man and preventing a goalscoring opportunity. The penalty was duly converted by Pounder.
The second half saw York attempt to keep possession and tire Rovers' ten men, although Rovers had some good chances, with Heffernan having a shot cleared off the line. However, just like the first team, the goals are proving elusive at the moment, but played well enough to make light of being a man short for over half of the game.
Rovers - Budtz, McGuire, S Roberts, Albrighton, McDaid, Coppinger, Predic, Ravenhill, McIndoe, Heffernan, Saunders.
Subs used - Griffith (for Ravenhill, 62), Nelthorpe (for McIndoe, 62), Lee (for Saunders, 71), Pacey, Cockerham

The next home game, against Scunthorpe United on Saturday 17th September is all ticket, and no tickets will be on sale on teh day of the game. Tickets are now on sale at the Belle Vue ticket office, and are priced as follows:
Seating: Adults £18.00, concessions £12.00
Terracing: Adults £15.00, concessions £8.00

Morecambe manager Jim Harvey has confirmed that he has attempted to re-sign Rovers midfielder Adriano Rigoglioso. The player was recently spotted at a Morecambe reserve team game, which set rumours off, but it now emerges that Morecambe held talks with Rovers before last week's transfer deadline, but a deal could not be done. Harvey did comment that there may be a possibility of a deal "further down the road", but no deal is understood to be imminent. The player, who is out of favour at the Rovers, is said to be keen on a return to Christie Park.

Tickets are currently on sale for Saturday's match against Colchester United. They are only on sale from Colchester though - but they will be £2 cheaper if they are bought in advance. No tickets for this game will be on sale from Belle Vue. The game is NOT all-ticket, and you can pay on the game (but obviously will pay £2 more than if tickets are bought in advance).
Admission prices are:
Seating: Adults £19.00, concessions £16.00
Standing: Adults £16.00, concessions £10.00
Please phone 0871 2262161 to order tickets - alternatively you can book via Colchester United's official web site.

Today is the last day that Manchester City tickets are reserved for season ticket holders - tomorrow they will go on sale to those who received a voucher at the Blackpool match. Season ticket holders are allowed one ticket for themselves and one extra (although that cannout be guaranteed for the seating areas of the main stand) - voucher holders will only be entitled to apply for one ticket each.
Rovers report that 2,100 tickets have already been sold for this match.
The ticket office will be open until 7pm for the rest of this week, but will be closed on Saturday owing to the St Leger race meeting.
Rovers have reminded supporters that the home game against Scunthorpe United is also all ticket - we presume that tickets are now on sale.

The Rovers' reserve team travel to York City this evening for a reserve team league game at the KitKat Crescent ground (formerly Bootham Crescent).
Rovers are set to welcome back a number of players who have been missing for several weeks with injuries, including Simon Marples, James Coppinger, Mark Albrighton, Paul Green and Stephen Roberts. The match kicks off at 7pm.

Former Doncaster Rovers midfielder Jon Cullen has moved on to his latest club this week, when his transfer from Northern League club Sunderland Nissan to league rivals Newcastle Blue Star was completed. Cullen was a product of the Rovers youth policy, and made nine first team appearances betwen 1990 and 1992 before moving on to Morpeth, Hartlepool United, Sheffield United, Shrewsbury Town, Halifax Town and Peterborough United before dropping into non-league soccer in 2001.

Former Doncaster Rovers striker Dino Maamria is involved in a dispute with Woking midfielder Ian Selley, who he has accused of racially abusing during last week's Conference game at the Kingfield Stadium. Selley fiercely denies the accusations, but it has been reported that Stevenage Borough are in the process of writing a letter of complaing to the FA to request a personal hearing following the incident.
Meanwhile, Maamria is suspended for two matches after being sent off, and he has been fined two week's wages by his club, Stevenage Borough.

Former Doncaster Rovers striker Chris Brown is in demand, with Sheffield United and Hull City apparently leading the chase for his signature. Brown, who played for Rovers on loan from Sunderland for most of the 2003/04 season, proved to be a great hit with Rovers fans, but has only appeared once for Sunderland in the Premiership this season.
Hull chairman, Adam Pearson, confirmed City's interest, but said:"He is someone we've been looking at but at least eight other clubs want him."

On-loan winger Jonathan Forte proved to be the clear winner in the lastest "Man of the Match" voting, for the home game against Blackpool, winning exactly one in three of all votes cast. With virtually every player receiving at least one nomination, the leading votes were cast as follows:
1 Jonathan Forte (33.3%)
2 Tim Ryan (16.67%)
3 Neil Roberts (9.52%)
3 Dave Mulligan (9.52%)
Thank you to everyone who voted. The next vote will open on Saturday evening following the away game at Colchester United.

Tickets for the home game against Manchester City in the Carling Cup second round (Wednesday, 21st September) went on sale yesterday morning to season ticket holders only. They will be on sale to season ticket holders for both today and tomorrow, before those who hold vouchers issued at the Blackpool game last Friday can apply for tickets. Any ticket remaining unsold on Monday morning will go on open sale.
Please note that season ticket holders must bring their season ticket books with them when buying tickets. You may also book tickets over the telephone, but no tickets will be posted - they must be collected, at which point your season ticket will need to be produced.
Tickets are priced at:
Seating: Adults: £18.00, Concessions: £12.00
Terracing: Adults: £15.00, Concessions: £5.00

The Viking Supporters' Co-operative have reported that they have raised another £455.69 at the latest match. The collecton at Friday's match against Blackpool raised £259.13 in the ground, along with a further £196.65 from the Viking Bar, meaning that the new total for their "Coin Trail" appeal is now £35,451.11.

In a weekend where the fixtures in various leagues have been played between Friday and Sunday, we have found a couple more former Rovers players who scored goals this week.
In the Nationwide North, Scott Maxfield scored from the penalty spot for Barrow - only to see their opponents, Hyde United, equalise four minutes from time.
Moving up into League Two, we have a story of mixed fortunes for former Rovers players in the Macclesfield v Boston fixture. Kevin McIntyre headed home in the 21st minute, and eleven minutes later ex-Rovers defender Ben Futcher headed into his own net to give Macclesfield a 2-0 lead. Boston made key substitutions at half time, and ended up drawing the match 2-2.

The two new Rovers' youth teams got off to goods starts at the weekend, with both the under-15's and under-16's winning their first matches of the season - both against their counterparts from Chesterfield.
The under-16's won their game 4-3, with the Rovers goals coming from Marshall, Lodge (2) and Hinchmore.
The under-15's won their game 5-0, with Scott Bibby scoring a hat-trick, and Ben Miller scoring twice.

Fortress Belle Vue of last season saw Rovers surrender to the opposition for the third time this season as they succumbed to a goal conceded half way through the second half - caused in no small part by the referee keeping Tim Ryan off the pitch after receiving treatment - the ball going down the Blackpool right before a cross found Ciaran Donnelly totally unmarked on the far side of the penalty area, able to pick his spot to score the first goal of his career.
Rovers had played well in the first half, but Blackpool came out looking more determined after the break. Having said that, Rovers did not look like conceding until the cruel fate of the goal conceded whilst temporarily down to ten men. Sadly as seems to be the case this season, going a goal down seemed to knock the stuffing out of Rovers, and there appeared little prospect of an equaliser.
New on-loan winger Jonathan Forte showed good skill and pace on the occasions he saw the ball, but sadly his strike after just 70 seconds of the game went straight at the Blackpool goalkeeper - if that had gone in the net, what a different game it could well have been.
The voting for the "Man of the Match" has now closed, and the result will be announced on Tuesday morning. Thank you to everyone who has voted.

Speaking after Friday's home defeat to Blackpool, Rovers manager Dave Penney commented of his side: "We just need a goal. When we are playing well we have got to score, but at the moment we have only scored four goals in seven games. If you don't score you don't win games."

Gregg Blundell paid off another chunk of Chester's record transfer fee this weekend when he scored another two goals to help his side to a 3-1 home victory over Mansfield Town, which lifts City to ninth in the League Two table. The double strike lifts Blundell to fifth in the League Two goalscoring list.
In a fixture list much affected by the cancellation/rescheduling of fixtures due to international matches this weekend, the only other former Rovers player scoring a goal was Robert Pell, who scored for Ossett Town to send his side on to a 2-1 home victory over Runcorn in the UniBond Premier League.
Earlier in the week, Colin Cramb scored the winner for Stenhousemuir to enable his club to go through to the third round of the Bell's Cup with a shock 2-1 victory at Stranraer.

The Doncaster Rovers youth team went down to a 2-1 home defeat to local rivals Rotherham United on Saturday morning. Adam Brown scored the Rovers goal.

Former Doncaster Rovers central defender Colin Sutherland - popularly known as "Psycho" both in Doncaster and at his current club Petershill - has been put on the transfer list at the Scottish club.
Petershill boss Stevie Easton made the decision after Sutherland's second sending off of the season - in his first game after an automatic three-match ban from the first red card. Easton said that he feels that Sutherland's reputation is influencing referees. He described the latest dismissal as:"Colin and a Lugar player fell to the ground after a challenge and there was a bit of a spat between them in which they were both guilty of some pushing and pulling. Unbelievably, the referee deemed Colin's actions worthy of a red card yet merely had a word in the other lad's ear. I remember thinking when he was sent off in our opening game against Bellshill his reputation is working against him and this latest dismissal confirmed it."
Easton's public backing of his player did not dissuade him from explaining to the player why it may be for the good of everyone if he moved on.
"Colin may have good cause to feel he has been picked upon by refs but it's unfair on his team-mates to play games with this time bomb within their ranks. That's why I've told him it would be best if he makes a fresh start elsewhere. And though time is fast running out before tomorrow night's deadline, there will be no lack of interest in someone of his ball-winning qualities."

Doncaster Rovers have three of their youth teams in action at Cantley Park this weekend. The under-19's are at home to Rotherham United this morning, kick-off at 11 o'clock.
Tomorrow, the under-16's and under-15's both are at home, and both have their counterparts at Chesterfield as the opposition.
All are welcome to come along and support the future of Doncaster Rovers - but please note that Rovers have announced that no-one except official photographers are allowed to take photographs at these games due to FA guidelines and Rovers' child protection policy.

The long ongoing court case being heard in Ireland surrounding the involvement of Denis O'Brien in the purchase of Doncaster Rovers in the 1990's continues. Last week O'Brien lost his attempt to stop the Moriarty Tribunal looking into the purchase, which is holding public hearings to see if former Irish minister Michael Lowry had any involvement in the deal. O'Brien fails to halt Moriarty Doncaster bid
Evidence of Mr Lowry's involvement in the Doncaster deal is understood to be contained in a letter written by an English solicitor in 1998.
Mr Lowry has denied any involvement in the deal and the English solicitor later said he was mistaken. However, the High Court also rejected the argument that there was insufficient evidence to go to a public hearing.
O'Brien has said that he will appeal against the High Court decision.

Several Rovers players face fitness tests today before Dave Penney names his side for this evening's home game against Blackpool. Tim Ryan, Steve Foster, Michael McIndoe and Neil Roberts all face fitness tests today, but definitely missing will be James Coppinger with an ankle injury. He will be replaced by Uros Predic, who will make his first start for Rovers. Lewis Guy starts a three match suspsension after being sent off on Monday, and is likely to see his place go to new on-loan signing Jonathan Forte, who arrived from Sheffield United on Wednesday afternoon.
Blackpool include new loan signing Tommy Wright in their squad today, who has signed on loan from Leicester City. Definitely missing will be defender Rob Edwards (suspended), goalkeeper Lee Jones (groin injury) and defender Gareth Evans (knee injury).

Striker Andy Campbell, who appeared for Rovers on loan from Cardiff City last season, has begun a further loan spell, this time at Oxford United. His loan deal is for four months.

Doncaster Rovers Belles midfielder Vicky Exley has been included in the England squad for this week's 2007 Women's World Cup qualifier against Austria. The squad also includes former Belles player Jody Handley, who now plays for Everton.
The full squad: Rachel Brown (Everton), Siobhan Chamberlain (Bristol Academy), Lindsay Johnson (Everton), Mary Phillip (Arsenal), Alex Scott (Arsenal), Casey Stoney (Charlton), Rachel Unitt (Everton), Faye White (Arsenal), Katie Chapman (Charlton), Vicky Exley (Doncaster Rovers Belles), Kelly McDougall (Everton), Kelly Smith (Arsenal), Emily Westwood (Everton), Fara Williams (Everton), Amanda Barr (Charlton), Karen Carney (Birmingham City), Jody Handley (Everton), Josanne Potter (Charlton), Sue Smith (Leeds), Kristy Moore (Fløya).

Doncaster Rovers have signed 19-year old Sheffield United striker Jonathan Forte for a one month loan, and he will go straight into the squad for tomorrow's home game against Blackpool. Hints given by Dave Penney on Radio Sheffield indicate that he will start the game.
Forte is a product of the Sheffield United Academy system who has been with the club since he was 12 years old, and is an England youth international.
The "lightning quick" youngster has been allowed to come to Belle Vue in search of regular first team football and to further his development.
Blades boss Neil Warnock said: "There was significant interest in him but Jon considered the location when he made his choice and we are pleased to be able to help Doncaster out. Additionally, being so close at hand will help us monitor his progress."

Three players received almost 80% of all the votes cast in the latest "Man of the Match" poll, which was for the home game against Huddersfield Town on Monday. With ten Rovers players receiving nominations, the leading votes were cast as follows:
1 Uros Predic (34.21%)
2 Lewis Guy (27.63%)
3 Michael McIndoe (17.11%)
Thank you to everyone who took part. The next vote will open following Friday evening's home game against Blackpool

Despite not holding a collection in the ground on Monday, a collection of £366.91 in the Viking Supporters Bar means that the new total for the "Coin Trail" is £34,995.42. All money raised through this appeal will go towards the running costs for the Rovers youth team.