Football League Youth Alliance
Saturday 25th January 2020
Doncaster Rovers produced a blistering second half performance filled with ruthlessness and dominance as they came from behind to beat Huddersfield Town and stay top of the Football League Youth Alliance (North East Division) table.
Rovers trailed at the break following a highly frustrating first 45 minutes, but subsequently turned on the style to emerge victorious yet again this term.
Junior Smith levelled things up within a minute of the re-start and then headed home from a corner-kick to turn the tide, before Will McGowan’s well-taken finish on the hour mark ensured the floodgates were now well and truly wide open.
Smith soon completed his hat-trick and then Jack Watson’s relentless hard-work saw him bag twice, with a second goal for Huddersfield - this time nothing more than a consolation, sandwiched in between.
Though there’s no doubt that Paul Stancliffe’s lads will face sterner challenges in their quest to win the league, the manner in which they navigated a path to victory from a tricky half-time position speaks volumes of their capabilities.
The precedent has been set (again) and this ruthlessness is something that will stand the lads in good stead IF they can get anywhere close to replicating it in their remaining six league games.
Furthermore, it could have been an even more emphatic end result as the lively Josh Clemitson rattled a shot against the upright whilst Luca Nelson was denied his first FLYA goal of the campaign because of a full-stretch fingertip save by the home ‘keeper.
Rovers went into the encounter as strong favourites; top of the table and marginally ahead of second-placed Scunthorpe United, whereas the hosts languished at the opposite end of the division. Also, the reverse fixture at Cantley Park in October had ended in a comfortable win to the team who play in red and white.
There was one unfamiliar face in the starting line-up as trialist Aziz Sankoh started in place of first-year regular Lewis Cunningham at left-back.
In cloudy conditions in West Yorkshire, Donny almost made the brightest possible start as Owan Derrett went agonisingly close to an opener within two minutes when his far-post header from close-range came back off the upright following some good work involving Sankoh and Junior Smith down the left channel.
An effort by Will McGowan and a deflected attempt by Smith didn’t quite have the accuracy to test home ‘keeper Michael Roxburgh as Rovers dictated the midfield battle, moved the ball around well, pressed high and dominated proceedings territorially in the opening quarter-hour.
Jack Watson went agonisingly close on 18 minutes when he demonstrated great technique to latch onto a ball out from the back and bring it under control on the edge of the opposition area, but the Terriers ‘keeper just did enough to force him wide and narrow the angle with Watson’s eventual effort drifting wide of the left-hand post.
The team in red and white remained on the front foot; playing some nice link-up football, but remained frustrated in their efforts with McGowan and Smith, who scuffed a shot, being the next two players to see efforts drift wide.
Ultimately, when you don’t take chances then you sometimes run the risk of being punished on the counter-attack and that’s exactly what happened on the half-hour mark.
Ben Blythe’s intended pass to a team-mate was too short and thus gut intercepted by a Terriers player who accelerated away down the inside-right and then slid a pass across the goalmouth where it got turned into the net despite Ben Bottomley’s best efforts.
It was a genuine mistake by the Rovers captain; it happens, yet moreover it was harsh on the lads as Huddersfield hadn’t enjoyed any chances whatsoever up to this point.
A difficult period then ensued in the remaining quarter-of-an-hour or so up to half-time.
Some heads had dropped, positional play - okay enough beforehand wasn’t so good now and the Terriers began to get a firmer foothold in midfield, even though Rovers enjoyed more possession and created further chances when Watson saw a shot easily saved after Smith mugged a defender, whilst Liam Ravenhill hit a speculative drive over the upright.
McGowan made a rousing cry of ‘Come On’ in an attempt to rally his team-mates and Blythe atoned for his earlier mistake with a crucial sliding challenge at the expense of a throw-in, yet Huddersfield were still ahead at the interval.
Though Donny had enjoyed more possession and won several second balls, what they needed to do now was turn their work into more attempts on target. In short, Roxburgh wasn’t significantly tested enough in the opening 45 minutes.
Therefore, some harsh words may have been said in the dressing room at half-time in order to raise standards and get the lads believing they could turn things around.
Few people, however, would have predicted what was about to unfold as the second half was a display of utter ruthlessness as the hosts were mercilessly put to the sword.
It was 1-1 within a minute of the re-start; with hindsight a foreboding sign, as some intricate link-up play culminated when Smith seized upon a rebound from an earlier shot to equalise from a few yards out.
Adrenaline was pumping and the turnaround was completed in the very next attack with Smith’s glancing header from McGowan’s near-post corner creeping into the top corner, despite Roxburgh’s best efforts as he scuppered across his goal-line to get a hand to the ball - ultimately though without success!
Having been dealt a sucker-punch in the first half, the lads were now fully intent on landing a knockout blow. They were still dominant in possession but now stretching, pressing and probing with menacing intent - better than at any point previously in the game.
Although Smith twice went within a whisker of completing his hat-trick, it was McGowan who ultimately got the ‘killer’ goal when he capped off a fine, free-flowing move; loitering perfectly on the edge of the area in a central position to receive Watson’s pass (with Elliott Walker also having overlapped into a brilliant position out wide) before turning and finishing with aplomb.
At 3-1, such was the dominance on show, Huddersfield’s defenders would have been forgiven had they wanted to wave the white flag to stop further humiliation.
Rovers were not in the mood for showing mercy, however, and only a fortuitous (and totally wrong) linesman’s flag for offside prevented Walker from bursting in-behind the defence on the overlap to create what would have been a near-certain goalscoring opportunity for Derrett.
Josh Clemitson was soon introduced to the fold for Lirak Hasani and the midfielder made an immediate impact as he was heavily involved in Rovers’ fourth goal on 67 minutes. His tenacity and persistence saw him win possession and thread an intricate pass to Watson, who in-turn found Smith and the frontman lashed a drive home to complete his hat-trick.
By this point, it was fast-becoming mesmerising and the hard-working Watson soon got in on the act when he struck a fifth goal; placing a shot into the corner after a quick defensive-to-offensive transition unlocked the Terriers backline yet again. Marius Conradi provided the assist on this occasion.
Huddersfield quickly pinched a goal back to reduce arrears to 5-2, but the action was almost exclusively at the end which Doncaster were attacking towards and the woodwork got rattled by a rasping strike by Clemitson after more neat play - the ball being deemed by the officials not to have crossed the line as it bounced on the goal-line before it was cleared away.
Luca Nelson came on for the final quarter-hour and was involved in plenty; only being denied his first strike this term due to a low full-stretch save by the home custodian, though the forward claimed a deserved assist with an inviting ball across the goalmouth which was tapped home by Watson in injury-time.
In reflection, there’s no doubt this was the lads’ best demonstration of being clinical. Huddersfield, even though they were underdogs, had no answer to Rovers’ sheer dominance and it’s not an exaggeration to say the end scoreline was richly deserved.
It’s no doubt a benchmark and a definite message of intent to title-rivals Mansfield and Scunthorpe, both of whom were heavily beaten in their respective games today.
On the whole, it was an impressive display with some impressive individual performances.
Jack Watson deserved his goals and was a nuisance with his work-rate, movement, technique and on this form he must be a pleasure to play alongside for any young player. Elliott Walker was a threat on the overlap - causing no end of issues, whilst Aziz Sankoh (on trial at left-back) put some fabulous balls in, looked decent and should be pleased with his work today. The movement up top, combined with Huddersfield not exactly being the best defensively - collectively or individually, caused such a ridiculous amount of problems.
It was good to see Junior Smith overcome a frustrating first 45 minutes in the best way possible with his hat-trick, whilst Josh Clemitson deserves a particular mention as, in my opinion, he got to grips with things straight away, was influential - possibly his best game and damn unlucky not to have scored what would have been a cracking goal.
Liam Ravenhill also showed some decent skill, awareness and hold-up play at times whilst Lirak Hasani’s presence, though it will be better seen in games against tougher opponents, was nevertheless felt. As for Luca Nelson, the work-rate, endeavour and persistence was there; the assist was well-deserved and there’s nothing I’d have liked to have seen more in this game than for him to have scored (again, a shame the ‘keeper pulled off a save with a low, on-target attempt). Owan Derrett’s pace caused issues and I’ve little doubt that had he not been, quite ridiculously, flagged offside in one move in the second half, then he’d have probably scored. Marius Conradi also affected things when he came on, was full of running and ticked boxes in causing problems along with the rest of the frontline.
Defensively, there will be stronger tests than this and there’s definitely no need for Ben Blythe to dwell on the error which led to the opener - it happens and rather than letting it get inside his head, he showed his potential thereafter with some good interceptions. Nathan Dimou compliments him well at centre-back and it’s a strong, reliable partnership that’s been proved, time and again, in many other games.
Next up is a trip to Mansfield, which will be a good, physical and interesting challenge and the task has to be to ensure performance levels remain high. The scoring exploits probably won’t be replicated again but if the hard graft is there, then there’s every reason to be confident.
Team: Ben Bottomley, Elliott Walker, Nathan Dimou, Ben Blythe (C), Aziz Sankoh (Lewis Cunningham), Lirak Hasani (Josh Clemitson), Will McGowan, Liam Ravenhill, Owan Derrett (Marius Conradi), Jack Watson, Junior Smith (Luca Nelson). Unused Sub: Kian Johnson.
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