Bristol Rovers didn't know it at the time but the 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Doncaster at the Memorial Stadium on December 8 proved to be a turning point in their season.
Firstly, and most significantly it proved to be Darrell Clarke’s 246th and final game as Gas manager.
The gulf between the sides and the nature of the defeat left the Rovers’ board and manager feeling a change was needed as the club sat 21st in League One, just two points off the bottom of the table. Five days later, Clarke had left the club.
Removing a bona fide club legend and hero in the stands was never going to be an easy decision but honesty prevailed at the Mem, with the genuine realisation Rovers could be heading back to League Two.
In Clarke's place, stepped forward defensive coach Graham Coughlan - ironic, in a way, given the nature of such a defeat - but the Dubliner has dramatically turned around the club's fortunes with the Gas now 15th in the table and a chance to go 12th with a win at the Keepmoat tonight.
Much of that success has been built on the Gas' impressive away form, with the Pirates currently nine games unbeaten on the road in all competitions. Their last defeat outside the Mem was Coughlan's very first game in charge as caretaker manager, a 2-1 defeat to Sunderland at the Stadium of Light om December 15.
Coughlan said: “Donny and Luton were probably the two best teams we have played against since I have come to the club. Donny were excellent when they played us. They were dangerous.
“We are a different team, we are a different animal with a different mindset.
“There is lots more positivity around the team both individually and collectively; there is more positivity around the club and there is more belief, so I don’t think it would be an even and fair comparison to look back on that game in December.
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“I can only compare to my time rather than someone else’s time and at the moment we are in a good place.
“There is a good feeling amongst the lads, they can’t wait to play. They just want to play, I am having to drag them off the training ground Monday to Friday.”
The two sides are certainly in contrasting form coming into the game at Keepmoat Stadium with Doncaster without a win in their last eight games, including a 4-0 thumping from Luton on Saturday, and Rovers unbeaten in their last five league games.
But Coughlan said he expects a reaction from the homeside after their heavy defeat.
“They are a good team and good teams bounce back,” he said. “They have good players and good players react.
“They have been beaten by a side who are champions elect in my opinion, in Luton, and rightly so because they are a good side, probably the best team in the division.
“But Saturday will have hurt Donny. I know Grant [McCann, manager] and I know Cliff [Byrne, assistant manager], both would of hurt, and the group of players they have got there are not going to take that.
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“They are chasing the play-offs, they are a good team, they are very dangerous, they have got one of the most admired strikers in the division in John Marquis.
They have got pace, they have got young James Coppinger as well who is an excellent player, so they are a good team.
“They certainly won’t be lying down and rolling over.”
