An impressive away win in the League Cup followed up by a trip to Newport County.

Rewind the clock a year and Doncaster Rovers were in almost exactly the same position as they are now. They'd just won at Hull City, claiming a fair old scalp in knocking out the Championship side at the first hurdle. But just days later they posted arguably one of their worst performances of the campaign as they were hammered 4-0 by the Exiles. That game was utterly forgettable for Rovers, who were lucky not to lose by a heavier margin.

Manager Grant McCann is praying that lessons have been learned a year on. This Saturday his side will again travel to Rodney Parade off the back of an encouraging away win at Salford in the cup. But McCann is hoping they put in a much better performance than their last visit there.

They want to keep the momentum going after a strong end to last season before opening up the new campaign with two wins from two, scoring six times in the process.

Grant McCann presided over a miserable 4-0 loss on Rovers' last visit to Newport.

placeholder image — Grant McCann presided over a miserable 4-0 loss on Rovers' last visit to Newport.

"It's good to manage this sort of group, because they want to improve, get better and work hard and that's what we have here. We're fortunate," McCann said.

"Obviously it's taken us a year, year-and-a-half to put this group together but I think the Doncaster fans can be really proud of this team. And I hope we can make them proud come the end of the season.

"All it is at the minute is just a good start, though. I remember last season we won the cup game (at Hull) and then went to Newport and we got beat. We're in this position again now a year on. We want to be a lot stronger than we showed at Newport last year."

McCann will preview the trip to Wales at his pre-match press conference on Friday.