A tenuous link to the above quote from one of Donnie’s most famous sons, momentum from the previous outing v Leeds United could help the Tigers overcome what could be a deceptively tricky tie. On paper, you would usually back a team that finished 7th in the Championship the previous season against a side currently two divisions below. However, one thing that Grant McCann has in his arsenal is putting out competitive sides regardless of the opposition. This season, he has his South Yorkshire side firing on all cylinders. Despite clean-sheets being few and far between, he’s managed to propel Rovers into a play-off place as well as topping an EFL Trophy group consisting of Huddersfield, Barnsley and Man Utd u21s, more evidence of his ability to compete as underdogs. In fact, you may remember him winning his last two matches as City boss against high-flying Blackburn Rovers, and promotion-bound Bournemouth before he was sacked by our new Turkish owner back in January 2022. The win against Bournemouth was particularly impressive, featuring many Premier League stars such as Dominic Solanke, who finished that season with 29 goals. Interestingly, new Tiger Matt Crooks topped the disciplinary table that season for Middlesborough with 16 yellow cards and 1 red!

McCann will not be the only one motivated to do well against his previous employers; joint top-scorer Billy Sharp will want to prove any doubters wrong with City being the only club in an illustrious 20-year career with 0 against the goal column. It was Sharp who scored a brace in the previous round to set up Sunday’s tie, although perhaps the biggest threat will come from Luke Molyneux who has 4 assists and 7 goals to his name. One player who definitely won’t be featuring against the Tigers is Brandon Fleming. The on-loan defender has been recalled, saving me the embarrassment of not actually knowing if he’d have been permissible to play against his parent club anyway.

City lost in the EFL cup against Doncaster last season, as well as 4-0 in a pre-season friendly back in July. We’ve also not reached the FA Cup 4th round since pre-Covid. All of these omens, as well as the added incentive for McCann and Sharp, point towards the possibility of an upset, so it’s somewhat surprising that the game hasn’t been chosen for TV coverage. However, to go back to the initial point about momentum, I think a likely rotated City side should still have enough to overcome Rovers; spurred on by that morale-boosting draw v Leeds. Doncaster also come into this game on the back of a 2-1 loss.

Line-ups would be a complete guess with both sides likely to rotate to a certain degree. One thing to note however is that should new boy Matt Crooks make his debut, the assigned ref for the game Sunny Gill is known as being fairly card happy. With the added competitiveness that derbies bring, as well as the atmosphere from the fans, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a few yellow cards flying around as well as goals.

Score Prediction: Hull City 2 – 1 Doncaster Rovers