Yeovil Town v Doncaster Rovers: Boss Darren Ferguson proving hard taskmaster

Rovers have beat Stevenage, Portsmouth, Barnet and Crewe to start 2017 without dropping a point.

It means they travel to Huish Park today four points clear of second-placed Plymouth Argyle and 13 points clear of Portsmouth in fourth spot.

“After the game at Barnet I was talking about us needing to control the game better,” Ferguson said. “The last 15 minutes against Crewe was exactly what I wanted.

“We had 120 passes in the last 15 minutes which is a big, big total.

“We had three or four occurrences where it was 25 passes in a phase.

“We just completely dominated the ball.

“One week you have a manager saying I want you to do this a bit better and the next week the players have done it to a tee.

“They keep improving, the players do, and I’m absolutely delighted with them.”

Rovers currently have 58 points from 27 games. In the last five seasons, the points needed to secure promotion in third spot have been 85 (Bristol Rovers, Bury), 81 (Rochdale), 78 (Port Vale) and 84 (Crawley).

Yeovil sit mid-table, but they have the best defensive home record in League Two, conceding a miserly 10 goals in 13 outings.

Defender Mathieu Baudry accepts Rovers could be in for a tough afternoon.

“It’s a tough place to go,” the Frenchman said. “The conditions there are a bit different but that’s something we’ll have to deal with.

“We’re quite lucky here in that we’ve got a good pitch and it’s easier to play football. But especially at this time of year in this league you’ve got to be able to adapt the way you play.

“They look like quite a physical team but it’s up to us to deal with that different sort of challenge.”

Team news: Doncaster Rovers’ Matty Blair is fit despite being withdrawn against Crewe last week. Liam Mandeville is also expected to be part of the squad after four weeks out.

Last six games: Yeovil DDLWDD Doncaster WDWWWW.

Referee: L Swabey (Devon).

Last time: Yeovil 0 Doncaster Rovers 3, August 9 2014, League One.