THEY are pretty down to earth in South Yorkshire, and none more so than Rovers boss Dave Penney.The Doncaster manager admits his League One side will be up against it when high-flying Blues land at the Earth Stadium, rebranded in a sponsorship deal but still known to most of us as Belle Vue.

By Derek Davis

THEY are pretty down to earth in South Yorkshire, and none more so than Rovers boss Dave Penney.

The Doncaster manager admits his League One side will be up against it when high-flying Blues land at the Earth Stadium, rebranded in a sponsorship deal but still known to most of us as Belle Vue.

Penney's side are unbeaten in five games at home, including a 3-1 Carling Cup first round win over Port Vale, but were given a lesson by Sunderland during the summer.

They lost but have since recovered and sit in ninth place in League One, although they did get a 4-1 hammering at Layer Road by Colchester United.

Penney said: “It is going to be hard against a team like Ipswich, who are trying to get back into the Premier League and have started the season really well.

“If they play like Sunderland did against us in pre-season we will really have our work cut out. But the cup is a one-off and anything can happen.

“We will be out to give a good account of ourselves and see what happens.”

Rovers warmed up with a 1-1 draw with Oldham on Saturday, in what many Doncaster observers described as their worst performance of the season so far.

Full backs Simon Marples and Tim Ryan, and striker Gregg Blundell, are all likely to miss out through injury and on-loan Middlesbrough midfielder Mark Wilson is not allowed to be cup-tied by last year's winners.

Almost 1,000 Ipswich fans are expected to make up the 7,000 plus crowd and brave the gales, which are expected in South Yorkshire.