Four things to consider for Yorkshire’s clubs on Tuesday night

For Sheffield United, flushed with derby success after sinking Doncaster Rovers 3-1 at Bramall Lane, there’s the necessity to adhere to the theory to all successful sides back up one win with another - and there’s no better place to do that than surprise leaders Burton tomorrow.

For Rovers and Bradford, it is all about getting back on track after demoralising weekends against the Blades and Peterborough, respectively. While for York, beaten 1-0 at Notts County on Saturday, delivering a riposte at home to Oxford is also key.

Here’s four things for our sides to consider ahead of Tuesday night’s action.

1: It’s now or never for Rob Jones if he is to give the Rovers board a firm nudge regarding cementing his credentials for the full-time managers’ job.

As characters go, Rob Jones is the very epitome of a leader. A major influence during his time as captain at Rovers and massively integral to their promotion in 2012-13 following Dean Saunders’ departure to Wolves, the straight-taking no-nonsense north-easterner has now been given the chance to impress in his quest to land the full-time gig permanently.

A derby loss at Sheffield United wasn’t what the doctor ordered, following on from a home draw against Oldham and defeat at Walsall, with Rovers taking one point from nine under his command. As auditions go, it hasn’t been great.

Next up is a huge home game against Swindon. Huge in terms of Jones’s quest to be full-time boss and huge for Rovers, who are in danger of being stuck in the morass at the bottom end of the division.

Jones, typically, didn’t beat about the bush after Saturday’s defeat at S2, which he labelled as unacceptable, with some candid words spoken in the away dressing room at the Lane, with the post-mortem lasting 45 minutes.

Jones is not expecting but demanding a response against Swindon. And there’s obviously the issue of his claims for the full-time job, with Rovers board now drawing up a short-list after being inundated with applications after the closure of the application deadline on Friday. Ex-Notts County boss Shaun Derry is reportedly among the frontline contenders along with Jones.

2: After rocky back-to-back defeats to Bury and Colchester, things are coming together for the Blades - with the treatment room also clearly up nicely.

A haul of four points from two derbies against Doncaster and Bradford has afforded the Blades a spring in their step, more especially given their comeback from 2-0 down at Valley Parade and the fact that strikers Billy Sharp and Conor Sammon have both found the net in recent weeks.

Just as significant is the treatment room slowly clearing, with Paul Coutts back in the fray and Matty Done also progressing along with John Brayford and James Wallace.

With the likes of Ryan Flynn and Craig Alcock getting some invaluable game-time under their belts along with Che Adams against Rovers, the picture, injury-wise and options wide, is certainly better than it previously had been for Nigel Adkins.

Victory over Rovers represented the ideal preparation for the Blades’ trip to Burton which you sense has arrived at a timely juncture.

It looks like things are coming together, although the Blades will be anxious for the good work not to go to waste against Burton.

3: Bradford produced a reaction after a poor home defeat to Gillingham earlier this term - can they perform a re-run after the weekend loss to Peterborough?

Most of a claret-and-amber persuasion will not have seen Saturday’s limp second-half coming, given a five-match unbeaten sequence when City have done a lot of things right after a lame start to the campaign.

The run followed a lacklustre home loss to the Gills on August 18, when Phil Parkinson, like on Saturday, left his players under no illusions that aspects of their performance were simply not acceptable.

City started repairing the damage with an improved derby performance at Oakwell and now they make the long trip to Parkinson’s old club Colchester with more points to prove.

Parkinson will find out a fair bit about his side, handed an unappetising Tuesday night trip to north Essex, the sort of occasion which sorts out the men from the boys.

4: After producing reactions following disappointing defeats before, York must do so again.

Russ Wilcox, an honest, pull-no-punches Yorkshireman, labelled the Minstermen’s first-half performance in the weekend loss at Notts County as ‘shocking’ and while the scale of the 1-0 defeat wasn’t colossal, Wilcox wasn’t fooled following a poor opening 45 minutes when York lost too many individual battles.

A meek error from Scott Flinders gifted the points to Notts, but the fact that York failed to hit their straps in the first period when the hosts could have been out of sight will have alarmed Wilcox more.

Wilcox questioned York’s urgency in the first period, with things at least improving on the restart.

But in the round, it was a low-key afternoon for York.

Wilcox’s side have already shrugged off league defeats twice this term, with victories over Yeovil and Newport following on from disappointing losses to Hartlepool and Mansfield. The Minstermen manager will be after the same again.