Northampton v Doncaster: John Marquis back on happy hunting ground

Doncaster’s striking talisman had two loan spells with the Cobblers earlier in his career, including a redemptive one under Chris Wilder at the end of the 2015-16 campaign when he did his bit to help the club secure the League Two title with six goals in 15 appearances.

His feats at Northampton helped earn him a move to Rovers, where he made history last term in becoming the first Rovers player since Peter Kitchen in 1977 to score 20 league goals in a season after finding the net 26 times.

In spite of a relatively quiet start to the season, Marquis –who admits to feeling more of a marked man these days after his accomplishments last term – is looking at the bigger picture both in terms of club and self.

Ahead of the game with Northampton, who start out life under Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink today, Marquis said: “Personally, it could have been a little bit better.

“As a team, we have done okay in getting used to a new division and stepping up. It is maybe familiarising ourselves a little bit which we have to get used to. We could possibly have an extra few points, but it is still early days. We didn’t necessarily start last season that great, but we still ended up doing okay.”

Marquis has struck twice in seven outings and while that haul represents a modest return, he is entitled to be mindful of events last time, which yielded an identical return from seven games.

In his eighth outing, Marquis hit a brace in a 5-1 win at Morecambe and never looked back and a repeat at a place he knows well would not go amiss.

He said: “This time last season, I was probably in a similar position and I am not going to get too down and disheartened about it as it is a long season.”

On today’s opponents, he added: “You would expect them to be up for it with a new manager and the players will want to impress him and they will be bang up for it.

“We must make sure we are on our game and not thinking they are bottom of the league.”