R's on The Road to Doncaster

This coming Tuesday night Rangers fans have the long trip up to Doncaster on their first ever visit to the Keepmoat stadium in what seems to be a challenging encounter for the visitors. Lee Brown brings his now regular look at what lies ahead for the R's fans making the journey.



The Stadium.

Current capacity - 15,231

Doncaster moved into the Keepmoat stadium at the start of 2007, playing Huddersfield Town on New Years Day . After spending 84 years at their previous home, Belle Vue. The stadium is very similar to the new stadium that are built nowadays, it is shaped like a bowl, is used as a multi purpose venue and is the host to not only Doncaster Rovers, Doncaster Belles and Doncaster Lakers Rugby league team also have The Keepmoat as their home.

The stadium cost £21million to build and is the only stadium in the Football League(apparently) to be housed next to a lake.

Away fans are housed in the North Stand that traditionally holds 3,344 supporters. The view of the pitch, leg room and facilities in this stand are all said to be pretty good. The one downfall about the stand (and the rest of the ground included) is that there is a substantial tarmaced strip that runs around the outside of the pitch and pushes the fans further away from the pitch than we would all like.



From some of the reviews I have read about this ground in particular, the atmosphere is said to be very good and despite the 'bowl' stadia that usually loses a lot of noise, this one does hold it all in. We can also look forward to having cheerleaders entertaining us before the game and during the half time interval.

The History between the teams.....

At Doncaster Rovers

Doncaster Rvs. 3
Q.P.R. 1
Draws 1

The last time the two teams locked horns was in an FA cup match in the 1984/85 season. Doncaster run out 1-0 winners in that game. The last competitive league match was way back in the 1966/67 season, we can all remember this season for Rangers greatest moment in history! The match ended in a 1-1 draw, the only draw in this fixtures history (although there isn’t much history!)

How to get there.

This is a very easy ground to find, the hardest part of the journey is the distance. Travel up the M1 and leave at junction 32 to join the M18. Leave the M18 at junction 3 and you are only a mile away from the ground. There are a limited number of parking spaces at the stadium, around 1000 i am lead to believe and it will cost about £5 to park there. I am unaware of any other parking opportunities in and around the ground but I am sure there will be an alternative option if needed.



Pubs 'n' Grub

As the stadium is on the outskirts of town, there is not much choice in pubs as there are not any nearby. However through the Lakeside there is a Beefeater outlet (by Stadium Way), if you come off the M18 at junction 3 should should be able to catch sight of it. There is also another option if needed. There is a bowling alley by the Vue cinema on the other side of the lake that may appeal to some of us.

Food inside the ground includes- Pies (including the Chicken Balti pie), Pasties and Vegetarian 'Pizza Pods are supplied by Shire Foods and cost £2.30 each. Burgers and Hot Dogs are also available.

Preview

Despite defeat away at Cardiff on Saturday, Doncaster are one of the form teams in the Championship at present and many R's fans will be looking at a certain defeat with this one. Victory for Donny will bring them level on points with QPR, but the R's will stay above them with a far superior goal difference, yes, it's actually true. However, when the chips are down, Rangers are known to dog deep and surpised everyone and if this season isn't just going to fizzle out and go flat, the R's will need to bring something home from the Keepmoat, however they manage to get it? Whichever way you look at it, this is a very, VERY tough game for QPR on Tuesday night.