Doncaster Rovers (U23s) 1-5 Rotherham United (Res)

Doncaster Rovers (U23s) 1-5 Rotherham United (Res)
Central League
Tuesday 4th February 2020

Rotherham United’s second-string produced a ruthless first half performance as they eased to a comfortable 5-1 victory over Doncaster Rovers at Cantley Park.

The Millers fielded a more experienced line-up than their counterparts and were two goals to the good inside the opening quarter-of-an-hour thanks to strikes by the impressive Josh Koroma and team-mate Jamie Lindsay.

Trevor Clarke added a third before half-time and the rout continued with Will Peel-Evans converting from close-range to make it 4-0 in the early stages of the second period.

Rovers rallied with Jack Watson quickly reducing arrears before AJ Greaves saw a goalbound effort tipped away by visiting ‘keeper Laurence Bilboe.

Hopes of what would have been an extremely unlikely comeback were extinguished on the hour-mark, however, when Lindsay rifled a powerful shot into the top corner to give the Millers a 5-1 win which will have pleased manager Paul Warne who was in attendance.

Despite the scoreline (and a disappointing first half display in which too many Donny players just stood off way too much), it’s an experience which the younger lads in the starting line-up can learn from.

It wasn’t altogether a completely negative afternoon as there were one or two ‘okay’ individual performances, whilst first teamers Alex Baptiste and Alex Kiwomya both got 45 minutes under their belts following spells out through injury.

Doncaster got proceedings underway on what was a mild afternoon but almost immediately they found themselves behind. Josh Koroma got the ball inside the hosts' half and was afforded way too much time and space as he weaved his way forward, twisting and turning to carve out an angle, before hammering a low shot past the trialist Rovers 'keeper. Somebody should have put a tackle in, nobody did, and the goal was a result.

The Millers had quite a few tricky or experienced players in their line-up and absolutely dominated all over the pitch early on whilst Rovers, in comparison, struggled to get to grips with things.

Trevor Clarke could have doubled the visitors' lead with an effort from an acute angle that was well-saved, having got past Elliott Walker due to some quick movement. Nevertheless, it was 2-0 within a few minutes, as the lively Koroma (sporting a very interesting hairstyle) fed a pass to Jamie Lindsay who powered a low shot into the bottom corner from the edge of the box with the Rovers defence, once again, being somewhat lackadaisical.

Standards needed to improve, despite the fact that it was a bit of a mis-match in experience, though credit had to go to Rotherham who were excellent with their defensive-to-offensive transition at any counter-attack.

Alex Baptiste, who showed improvement after some rusty early touches, made a goal-line clearance to prevent further damage to the scoreline on 25 minutes; Koroma having won an aerial battle with an advancing 'keeper to send a header goalwards. Then, two minutes later, the experienced centre-back tracked back superbly and produced a last-ditch challenge to foil the Millers attacker, who was just about to pull the trigger having carried the ball forwards in a counter-attack.

Rovers' first attempt on target came just after the half-hour mark when AJ Greaves' speculative 30-yard free-kick was straight at Laurence Bilboe who made a comfortable save. An earlier effort from Myron Gibbons had tested the Millers custodian, albeit in a scenario where the flag was already up for offside.

Less than 60 seconds later, at the other end of the pitch, it was 3-0 with Clarke showing more good skill to get past Walker and making no mistake with a powerful drive.

Rotherham's forward play and movement was simply too much for Doncaster to handle at times and every senior player was clearly doing their utmost to try and impress boss Paul Warne who was watching with the rest of the coaching staff on the touchline.

Prior to the interval, the hosts did fashion up one more opening when Greaves' corner towards the edge of the box found Gibbons though his subsequent header was easily saved by Bilboe.

In many ways, the half-time interval couldn't come soon enough and, unsurprisingly, both teams made changes at the break with a few youngsters replacing more senior players for Rotherham, whilst Baptiste and Alex Kiwomya were replaced by Jack Watson and Junior Smith, respectively, for the home team.

The changes also meant a positional reshuffle ahead of the second half with Danny Amos (who was playing in advanced position for the first 45 minutes) dropping back to left-back and Branden Horton moving across to centre-back, in the space vacated by Baptiste, to partner Ben Blythe. Walker remained at right-back for 15 minutes before being replaced by first-year youth team scholar Josh Clemitson,

Rovers had more endeavour after the re-start but, in spite of this, the scoreline got worse.

Only four minutes into the second period, the Millers added a fourth goal when Clarke tricked Walker again to cut inside and his drive from a tight angle was parried up by Rovers' trialist 'keeper in the direction of Will Peel-Evans whose close-range connection went into the net despite the best efforts of Horton on the goal-line.

It was a blow but Doncaster weren't giving up and quickly struck back with Jack Watson opening up his body to receive a pass on the edge of the box, before firing a shot past Bilboe.

Watson's goal looked to be no more than a consolation - yet from the subsequent re-start, the hosts won the ball and carved out a 'proper' opening with Junior Smith bursting down the left-flank and combining with Watson. The scorer then played a clever lay-off to Greaves whose curling shot was goalbound until it was tipped away to safety.

It was positive play by Rovers - undoubtedly their best spell of the game, though it wasn't long until they endured more misery as Lindsay rifled a 20-yard drive into the top corner around the hour mark to re-establish the visitors' four-goal advantage.

A plethora of substitutions were then gradually made by Rotherham with the more senior players being replaced by youngsters.

It meant the final 20-25 minutes was quite balanced with Donny enjoying more possession and being able to play on the front foot - albeit with no realistic possibility of being able to force their way back into proceedings and significantly alter the scoreline.

Opportunities were to be had at both ends; Amos flashed a shot 'high and wide' whilst a visiting player did likewise in the closing minutes of proceedings. Rovers' on trial 'keeper, who had a largely unremarkable afternoon, made a couple of saves also in the closing stages.

Though the result was disappointing, it wasn't an altogether dreadful afternoon.

Both Baptiste and Kiwomya coming through 45 minutes, unscathed, can be viewed as a positive, whilst for the youth team lads who featured, the result will certainly keep them on their toes and it illustrates exactly what the requirement is to compete at the next level.

AJ Greaves had a typical combative performance and showed plenty of desire; even though he received little from the officials despite some blatantly obvious fouls on him (all in quick succession) midway through the second period.

Team: Trialist, Elliott Walker (Josh Clemitson), Branden Horton, Ben Blythe, Alex Baptiste (Jack Watson), Lirak Hasani, Alex Kiwomya (Junior Smith), AJ Greaves, Myron Gibbons, Will McGowan, Danny Amos. Unused Subs: Kian Johnson, Nathan Dimou.