ROVERS BID FOR A FLIER

With chairman John Ryan hoping for a bumper crowd of around 10,000 for the the opener against Millwall, the fans will be keeping their fingers crossed for a better start than Rovers made last season when previous boss Dave Penney was shown the door after failing to get among the early pacemakers.

But O'Driscoll, who took over last Septmber and at least managed to put some silverware in the trophy cabinet during the seaon when Rovers moved to their new home at the Keepmoat, is not worried about what the bookmakers reckon.

Most bookies are offering odds of 11/4 on Rovers getting into the Championship next May, with tomorrow's visitors also among the favourites at 3/1.

"They can make us odds-on favourites it makes no difference to me. In football you just hope to win every game you play in," said the manager after the team's last full training session before the real action begins.

"Millwall are also one of the favourites in League One and they'll be coming here determined to get a good result.The first day of the season always throws up some strange results so you can't judge prospects for the season by that. You just have to hope you've prepared right."

O'Driscoll reckons the pre-season games against Wolves and Hull City were the best indicators of the way his team is going: We acquitted ourselves well against both those teams and we didn't look out of place. The games against the two Premiership teams was a way of showing where we'd like to be.

"We've prepared as well as we can and want a good start. We're not going to win every game but it's how you react when you get beat that matters."

Most of Rovers close-season signins, Neil Sullivan, Gordon Greer, Ritchie Wellens, ex-Rotherham man Martin Woods and James Hayter, are expected to figure tomorrow.