Doncaster Rovers (U18s) 0-4 Bolton Wanderers (U18s)

Doncaster Rovers (U18s) 0-4 Bolton Wanderers (U18s)
EFL Youth Alliance Cup
Saturday 21st August 2021

Sloppy errors which were ruthlessly punished and occasional carelessness on the ball were the main reasons why Doncaster Rovers' youngsters were humbled 4-0 by Bolton Wanderers in this EFL Youth Alliance Cup (Group Stage) tie at Cantley Park.

At times, especially during the first half, there wasn't a great deal of difference between the two teams. Rovers definitely enjoyed as many chances as their counterparts but didn't put them away whereas Bolton, cuter in possession and quicker to seize upon mistakes, showed no mercy whatsoever.

The Trotters were 3-0 up by half-time before adding a second goal just after the re-start to quell any hopes of a comeback and ensure a successful afternoon for them.

Youth team manager Gary McSheffrey made a number of changes to his starting line-up after last Saturday's 2-0 defeat to Grimsby Town. Amongst the faces included for the first time this season were Tavonga Kuleya, Ethan Harrison and Justin Bennett - the latter of whom is a member in the U16s team. Corie Cole also featured, Luke Chadwick was named between the sticks, whilst Owen Scattergood was in the xi having overcome the injury which forced his early withdrawal from last week's match.

There was a concerning moment inside the first five minutes for McSheffrey and his players as a Bolton attacker capitalised on a slip by Charlie Petch and accelerated into the box where he clattered into Chadwick who had come off his line, made himself big and blocked the effort with the ball ricocheting out for a corner.

The second-year 'keeper required treatment from the physio and with no substitute shot-stopper on the bench for Rovers, the last thing anyone wanted to see was him forced off through injury. Thankfully though he was able to continue and the resulting corner came to nothing.

Despite playing with a high defensive line and looking a bit suspect at the back, Bolton continued to look decent when they had the ball and another chance came their way on nine minutes when their attacker cut inside and sent a curling effort narrowly wide of the target.

The lads then capitalised on the aforementioned high defensive line to create a gilt-edged opening. Scattergood (wearing black-coloured Nike boots for the first time) slipped a delicious, defence-splitting pass through to Harrison who found himself in a one-on-one with the goal at his mercy only to be denied by the Wanderers 'keeper.

Rovers kept up their pressure over the next few minutes as Scattergood, looking lively and effective, had an attempt blocked whilst Harrison drilled a hard low ball in towards the near-post which was turned behind by a defender at the expense of a corner.

The visitors cleared their lines effectively from the resulting flag-kick and would have launched a counter-attack had Josh Lindley not pulled back his marker having been dispossessed just inside the Bolton half - the punishment for which came in the shape of a yellow card.

A sloppy mistake then contributed to Bolton's opening goal on 18 minutes.

Wanderers were awarded a free-kick and with Rovers having switched off to the danger, they took it quickly and launched an attack down the left flank which culminated with a low cross into the box being guided by the striker beyond Chadwick. It was a cheap goal to concede and Rovers had work to do!

The next 10 minutes saw the pendulum start to swing slightly in the visitors' favour as they enjoyed quite a bit of possession inside Doncaster's half. By no means were they dominant during this stage - the main difference was just with how they were retaining possession effectively in comparison to Rovers who were sometimes looking for an 'out ball' too quickly from the back, rushing things, and just serving to concede possession.

Having weathered that 'iffy' spell, McSheffrey's team really seized the initiative just past the half-hour mark and had a couple of opportunities from which they can consider themselves unfortunate not to have equalised.

The Bolton defence had been stretched when Cole had an effort blocked amidst decent pressure on 32 minutes and the visitors' lived even more dangerously soon afterwards when Kuleya floated a right-wing cross high towards the back-post area. A penalty could have been awarded because a defender was clambering all over Scattergood but behind him was Harrison whose perfect downward header had the right technique about it but no good fortune as the ball crashed back off the woodwork before it was cleared away to safety.

More promising situations which saw Rovers in possession inside their opponents half also fizzled out before another sloppy mistake contributed to the second goal on 36 minutes.

Lindley was unfortunately the guilty party. He cheaply conceded possession midway inside his own half and it allowed Bolton to quickly launch a free-flowing passing move which saw a few players find space and link up to great effect - stringing intelligent passes together before the ball was put into the net by the attacker from around 10 yards. The goal was well orchestrated, even despite the initial mistake by Lindley, and the task was now doubly difficult for Rovers.

If the lads already felt they had a mountain to climb, what unfolded over the next few minutes meant it was a mountain of Everest-sized proportions - that's because they soon went 3-0 down!

Too many heads had gone down and possession was lost again from the re-start and in seemingly no time whatsoever, a Bolton attacker got goal-side of Petch inside the box where he was brought down. The referee, despite being a bit 'card happy' over the course of the game, was in a good position to make a key decision and pointed straight to the penalty spot. Chadwick was beaten again from the spot-kick and the 3-0 scoreline was flattering to Bolton but very frustrating for Rovers!

Two changes were made at the re-start as McSheffrey sought a response from his players to the difficult situation with Will Hollings and Bobby Faulkner replacing Lindley and Bennett.

However, no sooner had Harrison drawn a save from the Bolton 'keeper, the Trotters went up the other end and scored a fourth goal which all but killed any hopes of a comeback. On this occasion, a well-flighted cross into the box was met with a looping header by a Bolton attacker and the ball looped up and over Chadwick into the top corner. The connection couldn't have been any better and the result was now beyond doubt.

Rovers tried to salvage a consolation during what proved to be a largely scrappy remainder of the game and went close on a couple of occasions. Cole was denied in one instance prior to delivering a corner from which Jak Whiting headed onto the bar after the ball was guided across goal by skipper Dan Wilds, whilst the lively Harrison (who highlighted his worth by doing some good stuff over the course of the game), also went within a whisker during the closing stages. A consolation goal would have been deserved but it just wasn't forthcoming.

Bolton also created opportunities which they couldn't convert. A chipped effort cleared the upright just past the hour mark whilst one of their attackers was also off-target having pounced upon a mistake by Petch on 79 minutes.

Overall, the scoreline was frustrating but each of the goals in the first 45 minutes can be attributed to individual errors - it happens; that's life, but it's how you respond to setbacks what is important and sadly, in this instance, too many players switched off in the passage between the second goal and the penalty being awarded which led to the third goal being scored.

Nevertheless, Bolton are a good team. They retained the ball very well at times and their captain put in a commanding shift and had a major influence on the positive things which they did.

There are reasons to be optimistic from a Rovers perspective because this performance, despite the scoreline, was an improvement on last week's showing. Good goalscoring opportunities were created and it was just 'bad luck' more than anything else which meant the lads didn't get on the score-sheet. 

On a different day, I've no doubts that a goal would have gone in at some point which could have led to an altogether different outcome and so long as they keep creating the sort of chances that they did in this game, then it will result in goals being scored eventually!

Lots of improvements are still required with regards to aspects such as ball retention (and set-pieces which has been a recent bug bear though not in this game). However, it's worth remembering that this is a young team with a lot of potential, learning and growing to do and it's only going to get better over time. When all the games/performances over the past month are put together and considered as a whole, there are plenty of reasons for optimism and things to be encouraged about.