League One
Saturday 21st January 2006
As one captain departed, his replacement became an immediate fans favourite!
Rovers weren't without a skipper for very long though as Penney moved quickly in the transfer market to bring in Sheffield Wednesday defender Graeme Lee to Belle Vue. A calm and composed figure, the 27-year-old made his debut in a 1-1 draw with Chesterfield - the trip along the M180 to Glanford Park would be his first away outing for his new club.
Of course, both players were named in the starting line-up and an early noon kick-off, based on police advice, ensured the 'Drunken Foster' sea shanty was sung in the morning! It quickly caught on and it wasn't long before the entire away end was singing it aloud as 'Fozzie' warmed up with his new team-mates.
This was one of many memorable successes for Doncaster Rovers at Glanford Park and it included undoubtedly one of the funniest chants of all-time as a play on the words turned a popular sea shanty into 'What Shall We Do With A Drunken Foster?'
It was, of course, directed towards former skipper Steve Foster, who had departed the club in acrimonious (and completely unexpected) circumstances only a week or so earlier along with Tim Ryan after an altercation early one morning during a team-bonding trip to Cyprus. Rumour has it, the pair were pissed and got involved in a fight with Dave Penney, but whatever happened it certainly paints a vivid picture and probably wasn't quite what the manager had in mind when the trip was arranged!
'Fozzie' had played a key part in the resurgence of DRFC - making close to 150 appearances as the team earned back-to-back promotions to go from the Football Conference to League One before then featuring in the memorable Carling Cup run, just a matter of weeks earlier, which had grabbed national headlines.
It was no surprise that he wasn't a free agent for long and his subsequent unveiling in the claret and blue colours of Scunthorpe United certainly set the tongues wagging again - not least because it was Rovers' next away game and, if he played, it would be his debut for The Iron!
Rovers weren't without a skipper for very long though as Penney moved quickly in the transfer market to bring in Sheffield Wednesday defender Graeme Lee to Belle Vue. A calm and composed figure, the 27-year-old made his debut in a 1-1 draw with Chesterfield - the trip along the M180 to Glanford Park would be his first away outing for his new club.
Of course, both players were named in the starting line-up and an early noon kick-off, based on police advice, ensured the 'Drunken Foster' sea shanty was sung in the morning! It quickly caught on and it wasn't long before the entire away end was singing it aloud as 'Fozzie' warmed up with his new team-mates.
There was plenty of youth and experience on both sides with Billy Sharp (who'd not long been signed for a modest £100k fee from Sheffield United), Andy Keogh, Ian Baraclough and Andy Crosby amongst Scunny's starters whilst Sean Thornton, Ross McCormack (who was making his debut after a loan switch from Rangers) and Paul Green were in the Rovers line-up.
After a goalless first 45 minutes, it was in the second half where everything happened.
Only three minutes after the re-start, Jim Goodwin (who had replaced Neil MacKenzie at half-time) got on the end of Michael Rose's cross before planted a firm header past Rovers' new Irish 'keeper Alan Blayney and send the Scunny fans on the terrace behind the goal into raptures.
Penney's men had it all to do and with an hour played, the manager turned to James Coppinger for fresh ideas as he replaced Dave Mulligan - and within minutes the substitution paid dividends as Michael McIndoe (probably not into dodgy investment schemes at this point) equalised - guided home a long downfield ball with a deft first-time volley.
The stage was set perfectly for somebody to now become a derby day hero and what better way to make yourself popular with your new fans than by scoring a last-gasp winner?
That's precisely what 'Captain Fantastic' did in the 89th minutes when a cross into the box was only partially cleared towards him on the edge of the area. From fully 25 yards, the skipper than hit a speculative, sweet and looping effort towards goal which was utterly perfect as it sailed over the head of Tom Evans and into the net - thus resulting in the 2,000-strong Rovers fans exploding into euphoric celebrations!
With only stoppage-time left to play, the drama wasn't over, however, because a mass brawl involving both sets of players resulted in James Coppinger and Steve Torpey both being red carded - sadly, there isn't any footage of it (because lets face - other than the goals they're the best things in football) but I'm sure it'll crop up at some point in the future.
The tension was unbearable but Rovers held on for three points - incidentally the team's first win since the devastating Carling Cup exit to Arsenal a month earlier. It couldn't have been sweeter, or better, against a local rival - and the 'Drunken Foster' probably felt as sick as a parrot by this point!
It was certainly one of the best away days in Rovers' resurgence from the non-league wilderness to the Championship in the space of a five-year period.
TEAMS - Scunthorpe: Evans, Hinds, Crosby, Foster, Rose, Taylor (Sparrow), MacKenzie (Goodwin), Baraclough, Beagrie, Sharp (Torpey), Keogh. Unused Subs: Musselwhite, Byrne. Doncaster: Blayney, Fenton, Albrighton, Lee, McDaid, Mulligan (Coppinger), Green, Thornton, McIndoe, Heffernan, McCormack (Guy). Unused Subs: Fortune-West, Nielsen, Griffiths.
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