Matt Hamshaw and what the Doncaster Rovers derby means to the Rotherham United boss
LOCAL lad Matt Hamshaw admits it will “kill him” if his Rotherham United team come away with nothing in their South Yorkshire showdown at Doncaster Rovers on Saturday.
The manager was brought up in Rawmarsh and has been a staunch Millers follower since boyhood.
He heads into the club's second derby of the week, following the 2-1 Carabao Cup defeat at Barnsley in midweek, desperate for the club to put their first away triumph of the new League One campaign on the board.
"It killed me on Tuesday night and it will kill me on Saturday if we lose,” he said. “It's part and parcel of my make-up. I know what this game means to the fans, I know what it means to myself.”
His seventeenth-placed side will be backed by a 2,500-plus away following in the 12.30pm kick-off at the Eco-Power Stadium against a Rovers outfit who are two spots below the play-off reckoning.
“We'll be well supported,” Hamshaw said. “It would be good to get an away win. That's what we're looking for. We've done really well at home since I came in last March – we haven't been beaten – but we haven't won away this season in the league and that's something we're looking to put right.”
Despite the extra pressure a derby brings, the boss is relishing the occasion. He was a coach with Rotherham the last time the clubs did battle, in 2021/22, when the Millers won all three matches – one in the EFL Trophy – by an aggregate score of 13-0 on their way to promotion to the Championship.
“I enjoyed the Barnsley match, I'll probably enjoy Doncaster more with it being a league game,” he said. “I'm excited, I'm looking forward to it. We've had success against Doncaster previously but that doesn't mean anything now.”
He is in the early stages of a club rebuild while opposition boss Grant McCann is well on with his journey, having led Rovers to out of League Two last term.
“Grant had done an amazing job there,” Hamshaw said. “I think it's his third season and Doncaster fans will appreciate what he's done in that period.
“We'll be going into Saturday doing our damnedest to win. We need to change certain things on and off the pitch. I just wish we could do it quicker.”
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One to watch
Billy Sharp is still going strong at the age of 39 and signed a new one-deal with Doncaster in the summer. The Championship's all-time record scorer struck 12 times in 51 matches last season and, after last weekend's round of fixtures, had struck once in five outings this term. The veteran frontman was a target of Rotherham during the reign of Matt Taylor in 2023 when he parted company with boyhood club Sheffield United. He has racked up more than 750 outings in his long career.
Form guide
Rovers: WWWDLW *
Millers: WLWLD *
* Not including Tuesday night's Carabao Cup ties
Doncaster's most recent League One outing brought a 1-0 win at Port Vale last Saturday.
Recent meetings
Feb 1 2022, League One: Rovers 0 Millers 5
Mickel Miller, Ben Wiles, Chiedozie Ogbene, Dan Barlaser, Jamie Lindsay
Sep 7 2021, EFL Trophy: Rovers 0 Millers 6
Miller, Freddie Ladapo, Louis Jones og, Will Grigg, Jake Hull, Joe Mattock
Aug 28 2021, League One: Millers 2 Rovers 0
Michael Smith 2
Oct 8 2019, EFL Trophy: Millers 3 Rovers 2
Joe Wright og, Carlton Morris, Trevor Clarke
Sep 7 2019, League One: Rovers 2 Millers 1
Jake Hastie
In 91 matches between the clubs since 1923, Rotherham have won 45 times while Doncaster have 24 victories to their name.
Last clash
Rotherham were on their way to third-tier promotion and Rovers were heading for relegation to League Two when the sides met at the Keepmoat Stadium in February 2022. The Millers swept to their third win of the season against their derby rivals in a run of games in which they scored 13 goals and conceded none.
Opposition boss
Grant McCann is in his second spell in the Doncaster hot-seat and has been a success on both occasions. The former Peterborough United player took them to the League One play-offs in 2018/19 before managerial stints at Hull City and Posh. The Belfast-born 45-year-old returned in 2023, led Rovers to a top-six League Two finish and then guided them to promotion last term.
Man in the middle
Elliot Bell began refereeing a decade ago and made the EFL list towards the end of the 2023/24 season. He had three Rotherham matches last term: the 3-3 draw at Peterborough and the 3-0 and 2-1 home wins over Northampton Town and Blackpool respectively. Earlier this year, the Merseyside official took charge of a handful of fixtures in Japan as part of an exchange programme between the English and Japanese FAs.
The odds
The bookmakers favour a home triumph, offering Doncaster at 7/10 and Rotherham at 10/3. A draw is 3/1.