Doncaster Rovers 2-1 Lincoln City

Doncaster Rovers 2-1 Lincoln City
Sky Bet League One
Saturday 24th August 2019

Another week and another three points - it's safe to say that, at this moment in time, things are going pretty well for Doncaster Rovers.

Niall Ennis and Jon Taylor bagged the goals, either side of Jorge Grant's equaliser just before the hour mark, in this victory over Lincoln City which means Darren Moore's side remain unbeaten in Sky Bet League One.

On balance, a draw would have probably been a fair result.

Donny dominated the opening 45 minutes with Ennis putting in an outstanding display and torturing his marker, Michael Bostwick, at times.

The Imps then had the lions share of possession and pressure after the re-start; equalising through Grant, and were on top prior to Taylor's late 'bolt from the blue' in the closing stages.

Lincoln's managerial 'double act' - Danny and Nicky Cowley, were as animated as usual on the touchline in their efforts to try and influence officials and they copped for plenty of stick from Rovers fans in the West Stand who didn't take too kindly to their style.

Nevertheless, having seen them on numerous occasions previously, they were quite tame compared to other occasions where they've been up and down like a yo-yo for the full game and I'm glad they're now at a level where they're fulfilling the potential which they had several years back when they were at Concord Rangers.

Anyway, it was a blistering hot day for the Imps' first visit to the Keepmoat Stadium in over a decade and the visitors were backed by a near-full away end.

Lincoln started well and had plenty of early possession but Rovers made the breakthrough with a goal pretty much out of nothing as Ennis twisted and turned to peel off Bostwick's shoulder and reach Ian Lawlor's long downfield clearance, before unleashing a thunderbolt shot into the top corner.

There wasn't a great deal the visiting goalkeeper could do about it and it punctured the enthusiasm of the 3,000 visiting fans who'd been in full voice in the early minutes.

Almost immediately, the goal changed the momentum and Rovers began to get a firmer foothold in the game - moving the ball about better and pressing forward more.

Ennis constantly posed a threat and left poor old Bostwick trailing around the midway point in the first half, when he out-paced the ex-Peterborough man to reach of a floated pass, though the move came to nothing.

Eventually after plenty of possession-play in and around the visitors' area, Imps' keeper Josh Vickers was called into action just before half-time when Cameron John's header caught a wicked deflection to take it goalwards - only for Vickers to somehow instinctively react and palm it over the woodwork.

From the resulting corner, Ennis received a yellow card after he hauled down an opponent with a 'rugby tackle' challenge - one which definitely fits into the category of taking one for the team! If he hadn't have done it, the Imps would have been in a perfect position to quickly counter-attack.

At the other end, Lincoln's threat was very sporadic in the first 45 minutes.

Ben Whiteman charged down a potentially dangerous free-kick on the half-hour mark and a series of corners had to be defended well.

It was evident at the half-time break that last seasons League Two winners needed to 'up their game' and the fact they came out two or three minutes late for the second half suggests the Cowley brothers had some harsh words to say in the dressing room.

Nevertheless, whatever was said worked (to an extent) as Lincoln were the better team in the second half.

On 50 minutes, Grant flashed a low shot wide following a good bit of play by Harry Anderson as the Imps were now attacking towards their own supporters in the North Stand.

Seven minutes later, the visitors were celebrating as Grant equalised with the simplest of finishes - peeling off the shoulder of his marker at the back-post to get on the end a long right-wing cross and tap home.

At this point, momentum shifted towards Lincoln yet over the next 20-25 minutes (and despite introducing John Akinde who I saw numerous times in his Alfreton Town days), they weren't able to fashion any clear-cut goalscoring opportunities.

The Imps did also introduce Bruno Andrade for Tyler Walker - not the former first-year professional at Rovers who is now playing non-league; instead the one on loan from Nottingham Forest who missed in the play-off semi-final penalty shoot-out for Mansfield Town last season.

Despite plenty of possession, their best effort was probably when Bostwick got forward but fired harmlessly wide of the target with around a quarter-hour remaining.

However, they did win two dangerous free-kicks in very similar positions, close to the byline on opposite sides of the penalty area. Rovers got lucky with the awarding of the second of these as someone was penalised for blatant and obvious shirt-pulling on Andrade and it looked very close as to whether he was inside the area or not.

Anyway, on both occasions, an in-swinging delivery towards the back-post area was probably what was needed - yet the first was played short and backwards for a shot, which Lawlor saved with absolute routine ease, whilst the second was an out-swinger that was comfortably defended by the home side.

It proved crucial as within two minutes , Rovers went down the other end and bagged what proved to be the winner.

Kazaiah Sterling, on as a substitute, did brilliantly to beat Jason Shackell and win the ball back in a dangerous position before his initial attempt was parried back to him by Vickers which allowed the young loanee to cross into a crowded six-yard box from where Taylor poked home.

It was out of the blue as it was Donny's first major effort of the second period and pretty harsh on Lincoln, but if you don't take chances or make poor attacking decisions at set-plays, etc, then a side will always leave themselves susceptible to not taking the point(s) which a performance might merit.

Afterwards, Cowley stated he believed Lincoln were the better side and, whilst I wouldn't quite go that far, he does have some good players at his disposal at Sincil Bank and they'll do alright in their first season at this higher level.

As for Rovers, they've got fortuitous again today to get all three points but there's plenty of promise and the defence looked a lot more stable than at times in last week's 'topsy-turvy' tie with Fleetwood.