Paul Cook will have fond memories of the last time one of his teams faced a side led by Grant McCann.

This Saturday Chesterfield make the short trip to face Doncaster Rovers, the first meeting between the two sides in eight years.

The clash pits South Yorkshire against North Derbyshire in front of a bumper crowd, including 3,000 Spireites.

The match also sees Cook and McCann go head-to-head for the first time since July 2020 when Cook’s Wigan Athletic trounced McCann’s Hull City 8-0, equalling the biggest margin of victory in the Championship. Incredibly, Cook’s Latics scored seven of their eight goals in the first-half.

Paul Cook and Grant McCann on the touchline in July 202.

placeholder image — Paul Cook and Grant McCann on the touchline in July 202.

Speaking after the game four years ago, McCann said: "It has hurt us, and all I can do is apologise to the fans on behalf of everyone in that dressing room because it's nowhere good enough, and I'm so, so sorry for that.”

Sadly for Wigan it was not enough to keep them in the Championship, having suffered a 12-point deduction after going into administration. Cook resigned a month later.

Since then Cook has been in charge of Ipswich Town and of course returned to Chesterfield and led them back to the EFL, while McCann had just under a year at Peterborough United and he too has gone back to one of his old clubs in Doncaster, having been reappointed last February.

Rovers go into the game having won 11 consecutive league matches at home and one more will set a club record. Chesterfield have had a terrible recent run of results against Doncaster, not winning any of the last nine, with their last victory coming in a 1-0 away win in February 2005, with Tcham N'Toya scoring the only goal. The last meeting was a 1-1 draw in League One in April 2016.