IT’S going to be a working weekend for Town – but you won’t find Ronnie Wallwork complaining.
The on-loan midfielder was as gutted as anyone about last Saturday’s 4-0 League I drubbing at Walsall, whose Banks’s Stadium is just a couple of miles up the motorway from his parent club West Brom.
But it hasn’t detracted from his enjoyment of life at the Galpharm, and even though the 30-year-old’s stay might be short, he’s fully committed to putting things right in front of the Sky Sports cameras on Sunday (4.00).
Town’s setback at the hands of the Saddlers gave Wallwork an unwanted full house of win, draw and defeat in his three games so far.
And while the former Manchester United man believes Town could easily have beaten Nottingham Forest, when the dismissal of Danny Cadamarteri proved a turning point in a game which finished 1-1, he accepts they deserved nothing from their trip to the West Midlands, where the host club clinched a third straight victory ahead of tonight’s trip to leaders Tranmere.
“It was very, very disappointing,” said Wallwork, whose first match for 14th-placed Town was the 2-0 win over Luton a fortnight ago.
“We played pretty well in my first two matches here, and the way the Forest game was going before Danny got sent off, we would probably have gone on to win.”
While Cadamarteri missed the Walsall trip through suspension – he’s available again on Sunday – Frank Sinclair must sit out the Keepmoat Stadium derby after his red card at Walsall.
“The sending off pretty much summed up our day, but we can’t blame the defeat on it,” added Wallwork, who will complete his pre-match preparations along with the rest of the squad at Storthes Hall tomorrow.
“To all intents and purposes the game was gone by that stage and the most damaging thing about the red card was that Frank won’t be available at Doncaster.
“Having said that, I’ve seen enough of the squad here to know that we have more than enough talent to beat anyone in this division on our day.
“What we have to do is ensure that it is our day, and that means getting down to some hard work in training.
“No professional footballer likes losing, but you have to keep your head up and go back out there and do the right things.
“It’s a big derby match, it’s at a great stadium in front of the television cameras, and we want to go out and put on a show.
“We showed against Luton and Forest that we can play some decent football on our day, but we have to start doing it consistently if we want to get anywhere.”
