Following the draw of the first round of the Carabao Cup which took place on the evening of the Thursday 20th June, Rovers were offered a home tie against League 2 side, Oldham Athletic, during the week commencing 12th August.
In an interesting omen, the sides have not faced each other in this competition since the 2001-02 season, which saw Rovers overcome their first obstacle, in the Greater Manchester side with a 2-0 home victory, on their way to lifting the trophy at the Millennium Stadium, with Graeme Souness’s side emerging 2-1 victors over Glenn Hoddle’s Tottenham Hotspur side. In terms of recent previous meetings, Oldham Athletic proved to be a real thorn in Rovers’ side, as the Latics denied Rovers a victory against them when their paths crossed during the 2017-18 League 1 season, with the Boundary Park side picking up 4 points from a possible 6 against the Blues.
With Rovers set to face their second consecutive League 2 side in this round of the competition, following last season’s 5-1 demolition of Carlisle United, Mowbray’s men will no doubt want to replicate that achievement in order to advance into the second round of the tournament and build some momentum during the opening few games of the season.
As the game is set to be Rovers’ third game of the season, following an opening day bash at home to newly-promoted Charlton Athletic and a long trip down to recently relegated Fulham, there will be hope amongst many in the support base that this game can offer some the game time which they will desperately need, such as Dominic Samuel and Harry Chapman, in order to reacquaint themselves after long injury layoffs.
Tickets for this game will be announced in due course, and will be available to purchase from the Rovers store and online, once announced.
