James Coppinger's finest hour!

Doncaster Rovers 5-1 Southend United

Coca-League One Play-Off Semi Final Second Leg

Friday 16th May 2008

Sometimes there are games which stick out in the memory and this is one of them; the night which saw James Coppinger truly step up and deliver infront of the Sky Sports cameras and take the first steps towards becoming an undisputed club legend.

James Coppinger on the night of his best performance in a DRFC shirt (Photo: Doncaster Free Press).

At the time approaching the end of his fourth season at Doncaster Rovers, Coppinger had sometimes been criticised for lacking an end product. His creative flair, skill and natural ability on the ball was undisputed, but a goals return of only three goals from 43 appearances (ahead of this game) had some supporters asking questions.

It's fair to say that after events in this game, those concerns were firmly quashed.

Rovers went into this second leg with Southend United at the Keepmoat Stadium on the back of a hard-fought 0-0 draw at Roots Hall a week earlier. Things were going well in that meeting until the dying stages when Paul Heffernan was stupidly red carded for an off-the-ball incident and his absence would be a big loss for this showdown.

Leeds United were already awaiting in the League One Play-Off Final; the Whites having overturned a first leg deficit to Carlisle United to book their place at Wembley on Sunday 25th May.

Rovers fans before the game (Photo: PA Sport).

To boost their numbers at the game, Southend's hierarchy arranged free coach travel for their supporters which consequentially resulted in around 2,000 making the trip from Essex. The home end wasn't quite a sell-out (though it wasn't far from it) with everyone supporting Rovers being given free flags to wave and told by chairman John Ryan to be noisy, loud and back the lads as much as possible.

There was a brilliant atmosphere with Dario G's 'Carnaval De Paris' amongst the pre-match music blasted out over the PA system followed by a spine-tingling sensation of dread, excitement, belief and nerves as the players emerged from the tunnel and the game finally got underway.

Although things would quickly go awry for them, it was Southend, wearing their away strip, who actually began strongly with James Walker coming within a whisker of putting them ahead on a counter-attack when he somehow rattled the upright from only a few yards out.

It was a critical and important miss (because he should have scored) even at such an early stage, and one which Rovers soon took full advantage of as Jason Price was judged to have been pulled to the ground inside the area by Peter Clarke only a few minutes later. Referee Mark Halsey showed zero hesitation in pointing to the spot and amidst high stakes and tension, Brian Stock retained his composure to place the ball past Darryl Flahavan and give his team the crucial breakthrough.

There was suddenly a boisterous sense of eager excitement swirling around inside the stadium and it's something which those in red and white on the pitch thrived upon as they contrived to produce one of the most merciless team performances ever seen in a Play-Off game.

Southend were torn apart before half-time. Rovers' second goal came about from a typical trademark piece of play for the Sean O'Driscoll era in retaining the ball and moving it well across the pitch with Jason Price knocking the ball into the net under pressure from Adam Barrett following Paul Green's nod-down into the danger zone from a deep right-sided cross.

'Piranhas' by Tom Hark never sounded so good as it came over the PA system after each goal was scored, though the James Coppinger Show hadn't even begun at this point.

Six minutes before the interval, the No.26 got the first of his three strikes with some twinkle-toe footwork that bamboozled the visiting defence and allowed him the space to burst into the box and slide the ball past a grounded Flahavan. It was a sublime finish with pure quality in it and it was pretty clear by this point that an all-Yorkshire Play-Off Final would be in store! 

The respective half-time team talks couldn't have contrasted more with Southend being outplayed and outclassed during the first 45 minutes. Sean O'Driscoll could only have asked for more of the same from his players whilst heaven knows what Steve Tilson said to his men. What could he say though? Sometimes you just have to sit back and admire the total quality of the opposition and this was probably one of those occasions for him!

Keen to make sure there would be no comeback, Rovers wasted little time in ensuring there would be no comeback and it was 4-0 not long after the re-start. Coppinger was again the Shrimpers' chief tormentor, gliding and sliding past defenders to be a chief weapon in the attacking armoury, and this time he picked up the ball out wide, stepped inside and unleashed a clean and ferocious strike into the bottom corner.

Many fans were on their feet in breathtaking amazement at what they were witnessing and drooling over the pure quality of the football. The 2,000-strong visitors from Essex also played their part, too, by 'doing the conga' and creating plenty of noise in the away end but thoroughly resigned to the fact that they wouldn't be walking up Wembley Way anytime soon!

Watching Leeds manager Gary McAllister must have been concerned by what he was witnessing and in the closing stages, Coppinger put the icing on his most outstanding performance in a DRFC shirt by scoring again to ensure he had the honour of becoming the first player to score a hat-trick at the Keepmoat Stadium.

His fifth goal came from a cleverly-worked set-piece - combining with Paul Green initially, and then placing a dead ball shot into the top corner beyond a stricken Flahavan. It was another sublime finish, the 'keeper had no chance and that 'Tom Hark' tune was playing aloud once more!

Southend were able to go him with a consolation with Nicky Bailey swivelling well inside the box to fire a shot past Neil Sullivan but it wasn't going to change the outcome.

Brian Stock is mobbed at the final whistle (Photo: Unknown).

The final whistle was met with a joyous pitch invasion and huge celebrations with many fans remaining on the pitch, singing loud and proud, bursting with pride - with some applauding the visiting contingent in the away end!

As Sky Sports' punditry team waxed lyrical, conversations right around the stadium were all the same; words such as wow, breathtaking, sensational, sublime and amazing being used aplenty! John Ryan couldn't have been prouder because it really was a performance which had everything and was as close to perfect as you can get.

Bring on Leeds!

A full album containing various images from this game can be found by clicking here.