Doncaster Rovers 0-2 Walsall

Doncaster Rovers 0-2 Walsall

Sky Bet League Two

Friday 2nd December 2022

Tame, tepid and pretty desperate to watch!

This was another game to forget for Doncaster Rovers as they were easily beaten by Walsall on a freezing cold night at the Eco-Power Stadium.

After a first half which lacked inspiration, creativity, and was short on goalmouth action at both ends, the Saddlers turned up the heat in the second half to take all three points.

The goals came about as Tom Knowles broke the deadlock shortly after half-time when Isaac Hutchinson skinned Ro-Shaun Williams out wide and provided the perfect ball into the area for him to finish, and Williams was also at fault for the second goal when he was dispossessed midway inside his own half by Danny Johnson who retained his composure to break clear and subsequently beat Jonny Mitchell in a one-on-one.

And at 2-0, being quite honest, Rovers never looked like getting back into things.

Although they mustered up a few half-chances; the best of which saw Kieran Agard lash an effort over from close-range on the rebound after an effort by Harrison Biggins was only parried, for all the possession which Danny Schofield’s team had, it was usually in ineffective areas of the pitch. Apart from a few minutes either side of half-time, there wasn’t anything to get excited about and all the sharp, sweeping and incisive stuff in the final third was played by Walsall who could have even had a third goal late on when Andy Williams glanced a header just wide from a set-piece.

Other than another calamitous individual display by Ro-Shaun Williams - who surely now has to be dropped considering the vast catalogue of cock up's he’s got to his name, perhaps the most worrying thing from a Rovers perspective is that Gary McSheffrey got sacked when the team produced BETTER performances than the one in this game.

No matter how Danny Schofield tries to dress things up, the performance really was that poor and he needs support in the transfer window because Rovers’ form over the past few months has seen them collect just 14 points from 14 games - and that should ring alarm bells!

Over the course of a season, that kind of form would translate to less than 50 points and, usually, that would mean it would be a battle just to stay in League Two. There won’t be any relegation jitters this time around due to a combination of a decent start to the season under McSheffrey which is keeping the team in a mid-table spot, plus the fact the teams at the bottom (Hartlepool, Colchester, Gillingham and Rochdale) are poorer than is usually the case - and they won’t all pick up form sufficiently enough to put the proverbial cat amongst the pigeons.

But it’s another sign pointing towards the decline of the club over the past two and a bit years and there's nothing whatsoever to suggest that things are going to miraculous change anytime soon.

Everything just feels ‘a bit shit’ when it comes to DRFC right now, however, if there’s one thing which continues to raise a smile it’s that the club persists with ‘inflating’ attendance figures based on tickets sold/freebies given away - something they've done for several years to make it appear as if there’s more interest in the club than is actually the case.

Officially, the attendance for this game was 6,110.

In reality, the true ‘bums on seats’ crowd was about 4,000 - and that included three rows of teddy bears in the East Stand who were, presumably, allocated a seat and included as part of the figure.

What a game for Nookie, Rupert and Paddington and the rest of their friends to witness!