Doncaster Rovers versus Harrogate Town offers clash of styles as South Yorkshire possession meets North Yorkshire aggression

Each drew 0-0 in League Two on Saturday, Rovers at Stockport County, Harrogate at home to Gillingham. But the Doncastrians in charge know their derby opponents are cut from very different cloth.

“I’ve watched a number of their games and they’re a very aggressive team," said Doncaster coach Danny Schofield. "They have a 4-4-2 structure, they press quite aggressively and they’ve got players who can cause problems in attack and defence. They’ll come with that same spirit and fight to try to win.

“Do I see them posing different problems to Stockport? Yes. We need to be prepared for that and I feel we are.

“First and foremost, as an opposition coach, I look at how competitive an opponent is. How many chances are they conceding, what are the chances they are creating, what is their style of play? We feel they are a competitive team.”

Doncaster's passing style will ask different questions of Simon Weaver's Sulphurites and tellingly he drew parallels with the side they lost to in a six-match sequence featuring five draws.

"It's an altogether different challenge again," said Harrogate’s manager. "I suppose they're like Swindon where they'll get it from the back, play through the thirds and have a distinct way of playing. We're looking forward to coming up against that and working hard.

"That's certainly what we'll have to do to win the game.

"The aim is to try and get a win. We've been playing well enough in the last six or seven games to have got more than a couple of wins. The only blip was the Swindon game so we'll have to go about it better than we did that day but I think the effort, the passion and the energy has been superb of late.

"We want perfect attitudes and we've got to because week in, week out we're underdogs.

"We'll be big underdogs at Doncaster but it's a game we've got to get stuck into and enjoy."

Last six games: Doncaster Rovers DLLWWW; Harrogate Town DDLDDD

Referee: D Rock (Hertfordshire)

Last time: Doncaster Rovers 2 Harrogate Town 0, January 12, 2002, FA Trophy