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Posh preview: Sharp insists Doncaster looking to play-offs
TOP scorer Billy Sharp insists Doncaster are capable of claiming a Championship play-off spot.
Sharp netted his 15th goal of the season in Saturday’s 2-1 win over Derby County at the Keepmoat Stadium, a result which lifted Rovers to within four points of the top six.
A four-game unbeaten run means they will approach a trip to the Championship’s bottom club tonight with plenty of confidence.
Sharp said: “Someone always comes with a late run to reach the play-offs and there is no reason why that can’t be us.
“The manager has said we need 50 points just to be sure of avoding relegation, but if we win tonight we will have 51 so we can look up the table rather than down.
“We could be a point off the play-offs then, so promotion would be a realistic aim. Cardiff have got a couple of games in hand on us, but we’ll just have to see what happens.
“It would be a massive achievement for Doncaster to go up because they were in the Conference only a few years ago, but I don’t think we can get too carried away just yet.”
Rovers boss Sean O’Driscoll, who celebrated his 200th game in charge on Saturday, claims he never thinks of promotion to the Premier League for the 2002-03 Conference Champions.
O’Driscoll said: “Our motivation is stopping in this division. I don’t care where we are as long as we get enough points to stay up.
“I heard Neil Warnock say recently that you’d be unlucky to go down with 50 points, but I think you may need more than that this season.”
Whatever happens to Rovers this season, their story continues to give hope to teams like Posh. Rovers were relegated from the Football League at the end of the 1997-98 season and it took them five years to return.
They claimed promotion from the old Third Division at the first attempt and won promotion to the Championship four seasons later.
Rovers then overcame a terrible start to their first Championship campaign, but recovered brilliantly to finish comfortably in mid-table, sticking to their stylish football principles on the way.
Throw in a terrific new stadium and average crowds this season of over 10,000 and you can see why Posh boss Jim Gannon claims they are the perfect role model for his club in his programme notes tonight.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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