Doncaster Rovers (U23s) 4-2 Rotherham United (U23s)

Doncaster Rovers (U23s) 4-2 Rotherham United (U23s)
Central League Cup
Tuesday 1st October 2019

Doncaster Rovers' second-string got their Central League Cup campaign underway with a 4-2 win over Rotherham United.

A.Trialist and Madger Gomes fired Rovers into an earl lead and though Rotherham quickly reduced arrears. Alex Kiwomya's deflected strike meant it was 3-1 by half-time.

The Millers pulled another goal back with 20 minutes to go before Myron Gibbons sealed the points with a composed finish in the closing stages.

Just like in last week's clash with Portsmouth in the Premier League Cup, the weather was cold, wet and miserable and the 'glitz and glamour' of the Keepmoat Stadium was swapped for the opening surroundings of Cantley Park with about 30 spectators in attendance.

Rovers named two trailists in their starting line-up - one operating on the right side of defence, whilst the other played in an attacking role.

Rotherham began positively in the opening 10-15 minutes; enjoying more possession and territorial dominance (to a degree) though the only danger of any note came when Louis Jones was forced to palm away a teasing left-sided cross.

It was Donny who carved out the first chance though when A.Trialist showed some nifty footwork to weave into the box, before rounding the 'keeper, who'd been drawn from his line, but his subsequent effort was blocked by a covering defender.

The trialist wasn't to be denied for a second time, however, as he put Rovers ahead on the quarter-hour mark; firing home from 10 yards out after Will Longbottom's excellent drilled ball into the six-yard box was spilled by the visiting goalkeeper.

Within a few minutes, the hosts had seized upon some more poor defending to bag a second goal. Danny Amos, pressing high down the left flank, showed excellent persistence to nick the ball off a defender and cut a ball back to Madger Gomes who finished with aplomb.

By the quarter point in proceedings, the game was being played at a ridiculously frantic pace and was littered with misplaced passes, lapses in concentration and individual mistakes. It was a struggle and, despite the good finishing, not too pleasant to watch.

The next mistake that happened gave Rotherham hope of launching a comeback as Donny's trialist defender was dispossessed on the edge of the area, which resulted in Julien Lamy opening up his body to fire past a full-stretch Louis Jones.

Only moments later, it was very nearly 2-2 as the Millers won possession in a scrappy midfield exchange before Lamy got the ball and unleashed an audacious 30-yard attempt which rattled the crossbar with a back-peddling Jones beaten.

The frantic nature of the game didn't end there as Rovers quickly went down the other end and struck again with Kiwomya the scorer on this occasion with a low snap-shot which caught a deflection and wrong-footed Laurence Bilboe.

After the half-hour mark, though Rotherham had been (and continued to be) a big threat down the flanks due to the pace of their wide men, Rovers finally started to get a firmer foot-hold on things in the centre of the park.

Shane Blaney demonstrated some good organisation and leadership and was constantly trying to organise and ensure standards improved and slowly but surely the frantic nature of the game changed and it wasn't as end-to-end, 100 miles per hour, or ragged as it had been previously.

The only other chance of note before half-time was when Longbottom drove into the box but was off-target with his angled effort which cleared the upright.

Two changes were made by Under 23s boss Gary McSheffrey at the break as Longbottom and Kiwomya were substituted (probably pre-planned) in favour of Gibbons and trialist Harrison Myring, who played in last week's aforementioned game with Pompey.

In the second half, the pace of the game was thankfully a lot slower and with far fewer mistakes or chances, as Rovers did a good job of containing the visitors, though Jones made two routine stops in quick succession on the hour mark whilst players at both ends were off-target with attempts.

Substitutions also occurred with Rian McLean replacing Joe Wright and Cody Prior replacing Gomes.

With 20 minutes left, the Millers sensed a comeback may be on the cards as they halved the deficit for a second time thanks to Jacques Etia, who got on the end of a left-sided corner, just beating Jones to the ball, and planted a firm-header into the top corner.

Chances were then shared in quick succession at either end until Gibbons re-established Rovers' two goal cushion and simultaneously killed off any hopes of a comeback in the final 10 minutes, when he was played clean through and showed terrific composure to slot home from an acute angle.

With his dad watching on from the sidelines, first-year scholar Liam Ravenhill then came on for his debut at this level in the last few minutes.

Overall, it was a really strange game and there's no doubt that both sides can play better - even when considering the weather was poor and neither XI has probably played regularly together in a 'proper' game for a significant period of time.

Aside from Alex Kiwomya's deflected strike, every goal in the first half was as a result of an individual mistake. For Rovers' second, which was partly down to Danny Amos' sheer persistence (for which he deserves credit), it wouldn't have happened if the Millers' defenders in possession had just cleared their lines. Likewise, for Rotherham's first goal.

Individually, Amos did alright - especially up against their winger (No.7) who had a quick turn of pace, was quite influential in most of the visitors' attacks and was a tricky opponent.

Shane Blaney demonstrated decent leadership skills - encouraging, questioning when it was needed, driving for better standards, etc, and having seen all but one of the youth team games this season, it's an example which a lot of the club's YT players should look to follow. From his perspective, playing alongside Joe Wright (who, I assume, played simply to get minutes under his belt) will also be a positive learning curve.

Aerially, Blaney perhaps could have won more in the first period - not that he was helped by the positioning of Madger Gomes in one situation, but it's worth remembering that Rotherham were useful going forward.

Elsewhere, Myron Gibbons took his goal really well and that'll do his confidence no harm, Will Longbottom had 45 minutes where he couldn't be as influential as last time out; simply because the ball was behind him in the midfield area too much and things were scrappy, but he dropped back to do defensive work at times, held it up okay when needed, and posed a threat. He showed glimpses of his attacking attributes and without doubt, the goal will come.

Alex Kiwomya looked better than last time out which can only be a positive for him, as well.

As for the trialists, the central attacker who scored showed some good footwork and there was a couple of occasions when he ran at players and played on the front foot. The right-sided defender, despite the mistake, recovered from that and was okay, albeit wasn't spectacular. Harrison Myring couldn't bag despite going close with a header in his 45 minutes and if he gets another run out at some point, I'm sure he'll be determined to find the target next time.