PAUL Dickov insists Doncaster's controversial rain-off at Charlton six days ago has failed to put a dampener on their start to the season.

Doncaster, promoted ahead of Cherries as League One champions, were leading 3-1 when the clash at the Valley was abandoned at half-time due to a waterlogged pitch.

Despite opening with a 3-1 home defeat by Blackpool, Doncaster followed up by beating Blackburn 2-0 at the Keepmoat before drawing 2-2 at Wigan. They exited the League Cup at the hands of Leeds in midweek.

Boss Dickov said: “The thing that excites me about this group is that the more they play together, the better they will get. We are only three and a half games into the season and you can already see how well they are gelling as a unit. That is a credit to them.

“We have got to just accept what happened on Saturday and draw a line under it. It was hard to take for the players.

“But the positive is that we are getting better and better with every game. Some of the stuff we played in the first half-hour was fantastic.”

Paul Keegan returns from suspension for Doncaster, although James Coppinger is a doubt due to a knee injury.

Cherries: (from) Allsop, Francis, Cook, Elphick, Harte, Arter, MacDonald, Surman, Fraser, Pitman, Grabban, Ward, Daniels, Thomas, Addison, Hughes, Pugh, Coulibaly, McDermott, Flahavan.

Rovers: (from) Turnbull, Husband, Jones, Khumalo, Wabara, Cotterill, Keegan, Wellens, Coppinger, Brown, Robinson, Paynter, Duffy, Syers, Furman, McCullough, Quinn, Maxted.