Ipswich Town v Doncaster Rovers: 'I honestly think we've turned a corner' - Richie Wellens

Doncaster Rovers will face an Ipswich team this evening also built from scratch but likely to contain several more proven League One operators such as Scott Fraser, Wes Burns and Macauley Bonne to name just a few.

The Tractor Boys are yet to get into gear – like Rovers winning just one of their opening eight games – but Wellens thinks it is a matter of time before Paul Cook gets them firing.

And the Doncaster Rovers boss is convinced that his own side have turned a corner following two much-needed wins and Saturday’s encouraging performance in defeat at Plymouth Argyle.

But he concedes that they have to start winning and he’s no longer interested in plaudits from his fellow managers – just points on the board.

“Paul’s been promoted from this league - he’s won promotion at Portsmouth and Wigan - so he doesn’t need me to tell him anything,” said Wellens, when asked about Cook and Ipswich’s plight.

“All you ask for as a manager is time. I think he’s signed 15 or 16 players. We’ve done the same.

“As long as you start seeing things (progress).

“I remember one of his interviews where he said ‘we’re a shell of a team’.

“I totally get that because when I look back at some of my team selections at the start of the season we have been a shell of a team.

“But I honestly think we’ve turned a corner now and we look like we’re getting there.

“When you go to Plymouth who are on a really good run and that’s the most difficult game they’ve had apart from Rotherham away you can take positives from that.

“But we have to start winning.

“Four or five managers have said to me ‘Richie, you’ve got a really good team, and when you’ve got all your players back...’.

“I don’t want those kind of comments. It’s not patronising because I can see it for myself but we need to start putting wins on the board.

"When we start playing the bottom eight to ten clubs – I think we’ve only played one of the bottom ten – we can start improving our points tally.”