Central League
Tuesday 19th November 2019
Doncaster Rovers and Scunthorpe United shared the spoils in a 1-1 draw at a freezing cold Cantley Park.
Rieves Boocock's early opener gave Rovers the lead, but despite this the hosts were on the back foot for the majority of proceedings and only remained infront thanks to a string of saves by Kian Johnson, coupled with many defensive blocks and also some poor finishing by Scunthorpe's attackers.
The Iron eventually forced an equaliser with less than a quarter-of-an-hour to go when Lewis Butroid headed in following a right-sided cross by the impressive John McAtee.
Despite creating one or two further chances in the closing minutes, the visitors couldn't force the ball home again and they'll undoubtedly be frustrated not to have won.
Initially, this fixture was meant to be played in Scunthorpe but was switched to Cantley Park only yesterday as a consequence of the recent weather. Although there was no rain at all during the game, a combination of overnight frost and a lunchtime start, meant that it was bitingly cold throughout the contest.
Scunthorpe named a more experienced line-up; their side containing just one youth-team scholar in centre-back Charlie Barks and a few others on the periphery of their first team. Rovers, meanwhile, opted to field five current youth team players, three first-year professionals, and a trialist who went by the name of Vinnie Steels.
The referee, Dane McCarrick, was the same official who dished out seven yellow cards in the 6-2 win over Huddersfield Town a fortnight ago - though today he opted to keep his cards in his pocket and only blow for the most crystal clear of fouls.
In what seemed like freezing conditions, Scunthorpe began well and carved out their first of several chances when Reon Potts arrowed a shot over the woodwork inside the opening five minutes, after some good build up play involving John McAtee and Andy Dales.
Tom Pugh then had an effort blocked moments later whilst McAtee, who was at the heart of many visiting attacks, was also narrowly off-target with a shot.
Surprisingly, Rovers sprung away and opened the scoring on eight minutes with Harrison Myring getting into space on the right channel and cutting a perfect ball back to Rieves Boocock, who slotted calmly into the bottom corner from inside the area.
Despite taking the lead, it was Scunny who began to really enjoy success in the midfield area. They soon enjoyed a sustained 90-second spell of possession which forced Rovers back, but the lads kept their shape extremely well to see out the danger.
That was just one instance, however, and on the quarter-hour mark McAtee went close again - drawing a save from Kian Johnson with a low shot. Then, under a minute later, the same player went even closer - curling a 25-yard free-kick over the defensive wall which clipped the 'keepers right-hand post after Blaney was penalised for a foul.
With Rovers starting to appear a bit ragged and losing shape, Blaney then made a timely block when Jake Bedeau skipped Ben Blythe's challenge to get into a shooting position. From the resulting corner, McAtee rose highest but despite being afforded a free-header, he couldn't direct it on target and it remained 1-0.
Although the Iron didn't carve out any further openings of note by the half-hour mark, they were still looking very positive in their general play and were tactically on top.
Nevertheless, Rovers soon enjoyed a couple of quick chances as Barks was forced to block an effort by Myring, whilst a teasing corner by the trialist caught the wind and ricocheted off the woodwork before it was hacked away by a visiting player towards the byline where Branden Horton clumsily committed a foul and was fortunate to escape a yellow card.
From the resulting kick, the ball was played long towards the box where it was flicked on and Johnson made an instinctive save with his feet. Seconds later, the young 'keeper then held a powerful 20-yard pot-shot from Lewis Butroid.
The visitors were now clearly back on top with Rovers needing to regroup a bit, and the lively McAtee was the next to go close on 34 minutes; again though Johnson was equal to the attempt and used his feet once more to deflect the ball wide of the target.
An equaliser seemed inevitable and the Iron were handed the perfect chance to equalise only two minutes later when some quick, clever and incisive football led to Potts being played clean through, only to be felled on the edge of the six-yard box by Johnson.
It was a definite spot-kick and one where the young 'keeper, remarkably, came out on top - denying Potts, who stepped up to take responsibility, by diving low to his right to make a save.
Nobody on the sidelines quite knew just how Donny still led, such was Scunny's dominance of matters in the middle. However, it was the hosts who enjoyed the last chance prior to the interval and they came within a whisker of making it 2-0 as Blaney struck the post following a cross into the area from out wide.
Both teams made changes at half-time with Myron Gibbons introduced for Boocock for Doncaster, whilst Potts was replaced by youth team striker Harry Jessop for Scunthorpe. Meanwhile, Rovers also changed shape in a bid to negate the visitors' dominance and to prevent being as over-run as much in midfield.
That said, the second half was still pretty much a continuation of the first 45 minutes as McAtee was again the chief instigator in causing problems and he just lacked accuracy with his shots.
On 52 minutes, the undisputed overall 'Man of the Match' linked up well with Mason O'Malley and peeled into space on the edge of the area though his subsequent attempt was a scuff-shot and didn't trouble Johnson in the slightest.
Defenders Ben Blythe, Blaney (twice) and Elliott Walker all made important blocks in quite quick succession as Rovers' rearguard remained strong though McAtee squandered yet another opportunity with a wild and woeful effort from a tight angle, having initially done brilliantly to carve his way into a shooting position from near to the byline.
A few minutes shy of the hour mark, Rovers made a double change with midfielders Will McGowan and Cody Prior replacing Myring and Steels, respectively.
The substitutions meant another tactical shuffle in shape and, though it helped, Scunny remained a constant threat and finally registered another effort on target when Jessop rose highest to meet McAtee's right-wing cross, but Johnson got down low at his far-post to make a save.
No player deserved to equalise more than McAtee and he got even closer to making it 1-1 on 69 minutes with a swerving strike which cannoned off the post and was fortuitously knocked behind at the expense of a corner by Johnson. The Iron playmaker screamed in total frustration as he was doing everything right apart from having an end product.
Rovers' right-back Walker twice nearly proved to be an unlikely scorer as there was some rare action at the other end of the pitch. Having ventured forward down the channel and into a great position, he shanked his first effort disappointingly wide from just inside the box, but connected more firmly to a second pass he received minutes later - drawing a strong save from Iron 'keeper Adam Kelsey.
Sandwiched between Walker's two shots, McAtee (who else) had yet another effort at the other end... and yet again, it was off-target!
With less than a quarter-of-an-hour to go, there was a brief stoppage when Blaney received treatment for a head injury. Rovers were a bit slow to switch on when play resumed and as a consequence, it led to the visitors netting a long-awaited and richly-deserved equaliser.
A contentious drop ball was won by the visitors and it was immediately knocked out to McAtee in a wide-right position who showed more silky footwork and movement, then delivered a teasing high ball towards Butroid who headed past Johnson from close-range.
It was a sloppy, poor and disappointing goal to concede, but it had been an awfully long time in coming and the visitors totally deserved to be on level terms.
Only two minutes later, the turnaround would have been completed had Jessop not spurned a golden one-on-one with Johnson having been played through by McAtee, in a breakaway attack which came about after Blaney drifted forward and sloppy misplaced an intended pass.
Blaney was then in the thick of the action with five minutes remaining as he got up high on the edge of the six-yard box to meet McGowan's out-swinging free-kick from the right-side, but the Irishman couldn't get his header on target.
In a finale every bit as frantic as the rest of the game, McAtee drew a save from Johnson and Gibbons went close for Rovers yet despite the fast-paced and energetic nature of things, there were no further goals and the teams had to settle for a share of the points.
In reflection, it's absolutely undeniable that Scunthorpe were the better team, utterly dominant in the middle of the park and a fair reflection of the game would have been an away victory by a few goals.
Nevertheless, drawing on the positives this experience will be beneficial to some of the younger lads such as Lirak Hasani and Liam Ravenhill in the longer-term, it was also a very good defensive test in a 'proper' game situation and it's better to have challenges like this one rather than cosy games where sometimes things can be too easy.
From a performance perspective, in my view, it did improve in the last half-hour or so - shortly after Will McGowan and Cody Prior came on and when a diamond midfield formation was implemented to contain and combat Scunthorpe. If the game was split into three parts, the last half-hour would definitely be the most positive one.
Individually, Kian Johnson had yet another good game between the sticks to follow up some other impressive performances in recent weeks. He displayed confidence again, made saves to keep the scoreline down and also had to take a ridiculous amount of goal-kicks as it was that type of game where the ball was never too far away from him. It's another challenging test for him considering he's only just turned 17, and fair play, he's again risen to it and done well.
At the back, skipper Shane Blaney had a mixed game, on the whole. He made two or three crucial blocks at times to thwart opponents and performed well in that respect. On the flip side though, there were also two (maybe three) set-plays where the marking was awry and it led to opponents having 'free headers' on goal.
In my view it's the captain's responsibility to organise the defence as much as possible and there were times when some harsh words were needed to maintain high standards. He's definitely got good leadership qualities and was showing a positive aggressive presence, communicating and leading well, on several other occasions.
In terms of physical strength, compared to very early games in the season he's getting better and that's a positive.
When he's got the ball at his feet, he looks composed and calm, not flustered in any way, and he isn't afraid of carrying it forward. Ironically, he did it really well at one point in the closing stages but then, carelessly, misplaced a pass which led to a two-on-one counter-attack and a gilt-edged miss by Harry Jessop who should have scored. In a stadium environment, some idiots would slaughter a player for such a 'mistake' but it was just a bad pass. Actual credit has to be given for displaying the capability to drive forward with the ball in the first instance.
On the whole, he's still a work in progress... but there is clear progress and hopefully he can keep it up!
Ben Blythe, playing alongside him, will definitely learn plenty and that's as beneficial to his progress as are tests like this where the ball is coming back so fast because things are being over-run in the midfield. It's just a case of staying focused, learning, developing and there wasn't anything that seemed to daunt him - despite some really good opposition players causing chaos.
It was pleasing to see Elliott Walker supplementing attacks more so than in a lot of recent games. He did it well in August's games, has plenty to offer in an attacking sense and today, when moves did break down (quite frequently), he was quickly dropping back in to make sure that the shape was as good as possible. Branden Horton, at left-back, was challenged but had good positional sense for long chunks and like the others, tests like these are welcome as they're going to improve defensive players when their capabilities/limitations are pushed as much as possible.
The game was dictated in midfield and, as touched on, Scunthorpe completely, 100%, dominated in this area. That's where they got all their success and it was only when there was a change in shape to a diamond formation that it looked to become more bearable - prior to that it was just a constant case of needing to keep shape and be disciplined whilst Scunthorpe saw all of the ball and created things.
Liam Ravenhill struggled to impose himself on the game - but given his youthfulness, this will help his development. Lirak Hasani got better as the game progressed, whilst Will McGowan and Cody Prior's introduction was a mini changing-point as it allowed the lads to function better as a team.
The trialist, Vinnie Steels, showed a couple of nice touches and neat footwork but his display wasn't anything to rave about and it'd be unfair to judge him solely on a game like this.
Whilst there were several attack-minded players on the pitch at different stages, it wasn't really a day for attackers. Rieves Boocock scored and took his goal well, which is fair enough, but had in and out periods. He cut a frustrated figure as did Max Watters who was isolated quite a few times during the first 45 minutes as the team were pushed back. Harrison Myring got an assist but wasn't greatly effective otherwise, whilst Myron Gibbons came on and had 45 minutes where he got a shot away but again was isolated quite a bit due to the nature of what was occurring further down the pitch.
The team probably missed AJ Greaves who was part of the first team squad for the FA Cup game against AFC Wimbledon. He, potentially, would have been the battling dynamo that would have put tackles in, stifled things and not let Scunthorpe dictate. That type of player, also with a bit more experience compared to Ravenhill and Hasani, was what was sorely needed in the middle to stop wave after wave of relentless, intense pressure.
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