New strike pair backed to shine by Rovers chief

PAUL DICKOV is crystal clear that new signing Billy Sharp will click alongside fellow Doncaster Rovers’ forward Chris Brown – and confident the pair can form a successful striking combination.
Doncaster Rovers' Chris BrownDoncaster Rovers' Chris Brown
Doncaster Rovers' Chris Brown

Sharp arrived for a third spell at the Keepmoat Stadium on Wednesday, signing on loan for the rest of the season.

Despite not playing since New Year’s Day, when he played his final game of an emergency loan spell at Reading, the Southampton frontman is fit and raring to go ahead of today’s trip to Blackpool as he aims to re-light his footballing fires at Rovers.

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Brown heads into this afternoon’s crunch encounter at Bloomfield Road in a good place, fully recovered from injury and on the back of a two-goal showing in last week’s uplifting 3-0 home victory over Wigan Athletic and Dickov is predicting successful times for Brown and Sharp when they feature in tandem.

The Rovers chief also feels familiarity can bring the best out of Sharp, alongside two players he knows well from his first stint at the Keepmoat in Richie Wellens and James Coppinger, with the trio having dovetailed to successful effect.

Dikcov said: “What we have got with Browny and Sharpy is two players who will really compliment each other.

“We needed to get Browny some help as he’s been fantastic for us and having Billy up there with him, I’m sure the partnership will prosper.

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“I think they will compliment each other really well. Billy will feed off Browny, while he will create space for him and vice-versa. They are both hard workers, which is a given with me, especially with the way we want to play.

“Also with Billy, the last time he was here, he had a fantastic relationship with Richie Wellens and Copps on the pitch and they knew what each were going to do on the ball. We also have players like Harry Forrester and Duffer (Mark Duffy) who are like-minded.”

Sharp arrives in a squad which has confidence oozing through its veins again by virtue of last week’s tremendous victory over the Latics.

While Sharp’s arrival has added to the additions of Gabriel Tamas and Abdoulaye Meite and the re-signing of captain Wellens, the availability again of the likes of Brown, Coppinger, Bongani Khumalo, Paul Keegan and James Husband has also increased Rovers’ sense of well-being.

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Dickov, for his part, just wants Rovers to carry on where they left off against crisis club Blackpool – they sacked manager Paul Ince this week and are on a streak of nine defeats in 10 matches – as they seek back-to-back league wins for the first time this term.

Dickov said: “I sensed that (Wigan display) was coming last week. There was a buzz around the place; almost a relief as if we were getting these players back in and bringing players.

“With the excitement of Billy coming in, we’ve just got to keep our feet on the ground and work as hard as we can to get another performance.”