Doncaster Rovers boss looking for more in friendly against Championship opposition

Rovers have so far beaten Scunthorpe United and Bradford City as part of their preparations for the new campaign.

But Moore’s primary concern in both matches was giving his players the opportunity to shake off five months worth of rust.

Now - with the opening match of the season just a week away - he is looking to see his ideas put into play and a welcome show of cohesion from his side.

“It will be different again because the opposition is several levels above,” Moore told the Free Press. “We’ll have to be tighter with our play and cleaner with our play.

“That’s why I wanted to get the two games out of the way to get rid of the rust and understand where they’re at.

“I’m expecting a real footballing match between two teams that want to play.

“It will show us how much we need to tighten up on passing.

“They’ll be ready and they’ll be ahead of us, so we’re going to have to work extra hard. “We’re going to have to be much cleaner in possession of the ball.”

Concerns over social distancing measures from the host clubs have meant Rovers have so far been unable to publicise the identity of the opposition or venue in advance of any of their friendlies so far.

Rovers played Huddersfield and Hull in their final pre-season matches last summer, and Moore believes it helped ramp up performance levels for the start of the campaign.

He said: “The games against Championship clubs last summer were really good for us and I think they really helped us get ready for the season with the step up in quality.

“It allowed us to step up our performances and hopefully that will be the same situation.”

Most of the Rovers squad have been limited to 45 matches in each of the two games so far but Moore is keen to hand some of them more game time in Saturday’s friendly, with new signing Josef Bursik set to make his first appearance.

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