LDV Vans Trophy (Second Round)
Tuesday 2nd November 2004
Though his name is remembered for it's obvious tongue-twisting nature, Adriano Rigoglioso was a player who never quite ignited excitement on the terraces at Belle Vue.
Signed from former Conference rivals Morecambe for a reported £30,000 just a few months after Rovers had returned to the Football League, the ex-Liverpool trainee came to South Yorkshire with a big reputation having been a free-scoring attacking midfielder with his old employers.
Rigoglioso had played alongside Michael Owen, Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher in his youth team days and was expected to add an 'X' factor to a Rovers squad already challenging for promotion at the top of the Division Three table.
Initial expectations were high but, as is sometimes the case in football, things don't quite work out as planned. Despite the fact he could operate in multiple positions, the playmaker wasn't ever able to fully establish himself in then-manager Dave Penney's trademark 4-4-2 formation.
He made 17 appearances, mostly as a substitute, on the way to title success in 2003/04 but a red card in a defeat at Bradford in the early stages of the following campaign; coincidentally in the same game where a young James Coppinger made his first DRFC appearance, hindered his chances thereafter.
Slowly but surely, Rigoglioso (or 'Celi' as he was known to his team-mates) fell down the pecking order and he was released in the summer of 2006, having scored just once in 33 outings for the club.
However, what a memorable goal it was!
It came in the obscurest of matches - a midweek trip to Hereford United in the 'Northern Section' of the LDV Vans Trophy. Quite how Hereford were classed as being 'northern' that year when Boston and Shrewsbury (both some 50 miles further north), ended up in the 'Southern Section' remains a mystery.
Just 137 travelling fans were there to witness Rigoglioso's thunderbolt strike and, until footage emerged recently, it was an often talked about goal which forced it's way into DRFC folklore.
With the game goalless and approaching the hour mark, Rovers won a corner. Nothing seemed too unusual at this point until Michael McIndoe's first-time delivery towards the edge of the box was met with a thunderous first-time volley by Rigoglioso which flew past the home 'keeper and straight into the net. As he sprinted away to celebrate with the hardy souls who'd made the trip, not even he probably realised just how much of a fantastic strike it was!
It wasn't enough to put Doncaster through to the next round, nevertheless, as the hosts quickly equalised to force extra-time (the last thing anyone on the terraces wanted!) during which McIndoe had a spot-kick saved before Hereford emerged triumphant in the following penalty shoot-out.
Rigoglioso went on to play for numerous non-league teams in the North-West following his Belle Vue career, whilst the Football League still hadn't sorted out their dodgy compass in time for the following season as Cambridge were 'northern' and Nottingham Forest 'southern' at that point...
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