Rovers entered the 3rd round of the 2020-21 FA Cup courtesy of their Championship status, on Monday and were among 43 other teams who were coming into the competition, for this campaign at this stage.
The draw for the 3rd round occurred live on BT Sport as the 44 sides from the Championship and the Premier League entered the draw, alongside all the 2nd round victors from League 1, League 2 and the rest of the English footballing pyramid.
With the draw seeing the introduction of the mouth-watering ties against the ‘big boys’ from the top tier, Rovers – ball #6 in the draw – were given a home draw against League One’s Doncaster Rovers, who the Blues overcame in August, when the sides met in the Carabao Cup 1st Round, by a 3-2 scoreline, in addition to beating FC United of Manchester and Carlisle United in the previous two rounds of this competition. The clash is set to take place at Ewood Park, between the 9th and 10th of January, with a confirmed date to be set in the near future.
Rovers and Doncaster have had somewhat of an intertwined history in recent years, with the Yorkshire club having kickstarted Rovers’ rise in League One, after the Yorkshire club had beaten Tony Mowbray’s side 3-1 at Ewood Park, during the opening stages of the 2017-18 season. Rovers soon had the last laugh as Donny hosted Rovers’ ‘promotion party’ from League One, when the Lancashire team beat by a 1-0 scoreline at the Keepmoat Stadium, with the sole goal coming courtesy of former skipper, Charlie Mulgrew in dramatic fashion.
Having already met during the first competitive game of the campaign, both scouting departments won’t have as much to do as normal, however the game will offer Donny and Darren Moore a chance to seek revenge over Rovers, after the Lancashire side dumped the third tier team out of the Carabao Cup. This will be the side’s first FA Cup meeting, with their only clash in the domestic cups, prior to this campaign, coming all the way back in 1969, in a game where Lancashire beat Yorkshire, at Ewood Park by a score of 4-2.
