Newport County expert provides the lowdown on Doncaster Rovers’ next opposition

The Exiles also lost on the first day of the season, suffering a heavy 3-0 defeat to Accrington Stanley.

But, like Doncaster, Graham Coughlan’s side bounced back with a win in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday and claimed an impressive upset of their own, beating Charlton 3-1 at home.

Ahead of the match, The Free Press spoke to Newport County reporter Chris Kirwan to get the lowdown on Rovers’ next opponents.

What are the expectations for Newport County this season?

County have pushed for promotion in recent seasons – with two controversial defeats at Wembley – but nobody is expecting that this season.

With the budget that Graham Coughlan has, steering clear of a relegation scrap has to be the target.

What went wrong on the first day of the campaign?

They actually played pretty well but the finishing was awful while Accrington were a lot more clinical.

It was tight until Stanley scored in the 80th minute and, as home boss John Coleman was quick to admit, the score didn’t really reflect the game.

Could it be a season of struggle this year?

It definitely could be but I hope that County have enough to avoid being in a real scrap.

They need some more additions to the squad before September though and can’t afford to be in trouble in December because they won’t have the spending power of rivals to get out of it.

County can certainly field a strong XI but there are concerns about squad depth if injury strikes, as proved by the loss of Omar Bogle for the start of the campaign.

What do you expect from Saturday's match?

County need to improve their home form so will look to get out of the blocks fast to get the crowd into the game.

They will aim to put balls into the box and really get after their opposition at Rodney Parade.

Graham Coughlan made them pretty solid last season but it’s a new-look defence and they need to be more solid than they were in Accrington.

Score prediction?

Tight but hopefully County can edge a 2-1 win.