EFL Trophy
Tuesday 3rd September 2019
Without doubt this was a night with many positives for Darren Moore's Doncaster Rovers side, who deservedly saw off Lincoln City to get their EFL Trophy campaign off to a perfect start.
Despite trailing to John Akinde's opener just moments before half-time, Rovers regrouped and turned on the style to come back and win with Cameron John, Kazaiah Sterling and Alfie May all getting their names on the score-sheet.
The Imps, however, will be left to reflect and regret Akinde's atrocious penalty miss, just after the hour mark, when the game was perfectly poised at 1-1.
Rovers are now in a favourable position to progress through to the EFL Trophy knockout stages with Manchester United's U21s who won their group opener at Rotherham United last month.
Moore named a pretty strong line-up; Rovers' first game since the league meeting with the Imps last month though loan 'keeper Seny Dieng was named between the sticks in place of regular shot-stopper Ian Lawlor.
Despite speculation linking them with other clubs - namely Huddersfield Town and Sheffield Wednesday, Lincoln's managerial of Danny and Nicky Cowley were present at the game and they too named quite a strong line-up, too.
Rovers attacked towards the North Stand, housing the 300 or so visiting fans, during the first half and it's far to say, they created more opportunities but had little luck in the final third with several efforts being deflected off Lincoln defenders and coming to nothing.
On at least other occasions, when the visitors were stretched courtesy of good, passing football in and around the box, several balls went through the Imps' goalmouth, yet all too often nobody was in the middle in a 'gambling' position where they would have had an easy finish.
Brad Halliday, who along with fellow full-back Reece James, were very supportive in attacking moves, also went close to an opener with a powerful strike from distance which had to be tipped over by Grant Smith.
Despite the odd bit of sloppy football or careless pass, Rovers had been the better side and definitely didn't deserve to trail at the interval but that's exactly how the first half panned out.
Not long after Bruno Andrade had cut inside and flashed a warning shot narrowly wide, the Imps led through Akinde who received a pass inside the box, used his muscle to spin away from two markers and carve out a shooting opportunity, before emphatically smashing the ball into the net.
Dieng had no chance and Lincoln led, somewhat undeservedly.
Jon Taylor replaced James Coppinger at half-time and Rovers kept their 'foot on the gas' in the early minutes after the re-start with Kieran Sadlier and Ben Whiteman both going close with powerful attempts.
On 55 minutes, the equaliser finally arrived as a left-flank corner caught a deflection which allowed loanee Cameron John to finish from a few yards out. To say the home natives, housed exclusively in the East Stand for the game, were happy was an understatement!
Niall Ennis, who wasn't really able to replicate his very good display last time out, was replaced just after the hour mark by Matty Blair - not long after an off-the-ball incident involving Cian Bolger who received a yellow card.
In spite of continuing to play largely on the front foot, Rovers then sloppily conceded a penalty when John tugged at the shirt of Akinde upon entering the area, before committing a foul which sent the powerful frontman tumbling to the floor.
It was a definite penalty; no question, and the referee had a long look before deciding to award it.
Nevertheless, Akinde's subsequent strike was tame, far too central, far too low and just simply awful and it allowed Dieng to make probably his easiest penalty save of his career.
Immediately, momentum swung back towards the hosts and the one-way traffic which was the story for much of the game continued from this point up to the final whistle.
Just five minutes after Akinde's woeful miss, Rovers had the lead. May demonstrated some brilliant work to rob possession out on the left before delivering a delicious, teasing ball across the goalmouth which Sterling converted.
It was sloppy from an Imps perspective but very deserved from a Donny viewpoint.
Smith made a string of further saves, notably from Sadlier and Taylor, to keep the visitors in with a realistic chance of taking points back to Sincil Bank before May lashed home a third goal from the edge of the box with 10 minutes remaining.
Rovers also had a string of corners and saw plenty of the ball in the closing minutes as Lincoln, dejected and defeated, never threatened a comeback.
On the whole, even though it's just the EFL Trophy, there were some good individual performances and it was a decent work-out against a strong enough Lincoln side.
Cameron John may have got the champagne bottle from the sponsors' with the 'Man Of The Match' award, though personally I thought May was outstanding and his persistence, perseverance and goal was very well-earned.
Brad Halliday and Reece James both offered plenty and supplemented many attacks. Ben Whiteman had a decent game, too, and Taylor made an impact off the bench.
Rotherham United boss Paul Warne, who was watching in the stands with his assistant Ritchie Barker, will know fine well they're in for a tricky encounter when they rock up to the Keepmoat Stadium for the South Yorkshire derby this Saturday.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.