Saunders releases shackles on Rovers players

The South Yorkshire club have already beaten Walsall and Colchester United away from home, meaning they have won twice as many matches on their travels as at the Keepmoat Stadium in the league.

Saunders is adamant Doncaster can add to that tally today in London by pressing the O’s at every opportunity while also passing the ball with real intent.

He said: “We are away from home so we have got to not beat ourselves.

“If teams are going to beat us, we have got to make them work for it.

“Away from home, we have got to be resolute as well – which we have been.

“We have got to take some of the chances we are creating, the reason why we are making so many chances is the type of football we are playing.

“We have got both full-backs joining in, the midfield players getting in the box as well as the two wingers and the strikers are attack-minded. So, we are creating chances.

“But if you don’t bury them, you will get caught with that many people going forward.

‘There are different ways of winning a football match.

“Passing the ball around teams is obviously the best way to do it and is nice to watch, but if teams stop you have to match them and try and beat them a different way.”

Rovers bowed out of the Capital One Cup in midweek with a 1-0 defeat at Norwich City.

Losing by such a slim margin at the home of a Premier League team is usually something to leave a League One manager satisfied but Saunders insists there were things that his men could have done better.

He said: “Leyton Orient is going to be a tough game for us so we have got to make sure we are hard to beat.

“My main criticism of the Norwich game is that we gave them too much room, but at Orient we won’t give them an inch.”

Russell Slade’s O’s sit 14th – just two places behind Rovers – in the League 1 table having recovered from a poor start to the season by winning important games against highly fancied Swindon and cross city rivals Brentford.

Former Rovers player Anthony Griffith will not be available for selection for former Scarborough boss Slade, following his sending off in the draw with Crewe Alexandra.

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