Doncaster Rovers (U18s) 2-1 Bradford City (U18s)

Doncaster Rovers (U18s) 2-1 Bradford City (U18s)

EFL Youth Alliance

Saturday 25th February 2023

Freddie Allen’s dramatic injury-time header gave Doncaster Rovers what could turn out to be a vital win in this North-East Youth Alliance game against top-of-the-table Bradford City.

In a tight and closely-fought battle which could have gone either way, Rovers edged it on the overall balance of play (and definitely created the clearer-cut chances) but the scoreline was locked at 1-1 going into injury-time after Ian Kamga had cancelled out Jak Whiting’s opener just after half-time.

And it was in the five added minutes that the main drama unfolded as Will Flint produced a superb intervention at one end to prevent Noah Wadsworth’s dangerous cross into the box from reaching a Bradford player, before Rovers broke on the counter-attack and Owen Scattergood was denied by a flying save from Bantams’ keeper Heath Richardson who turned his goalbound effort round the post. 

Then, from the resulting corner, Will Green did what he does best and produced a tantalising dead ball delivery towards the back-post where Allen arrived unmarked to power it into the net for his first goal in a DRFC shirt and spark some pretty happy scenes.

Not bad timing, Freddie, and no surprise that he needed to do his laces for a few seconds, just fractionally on the pitch inside Bradford's half, shortly after his celebration too. Clever!

Overall, there were some good individual displays by those in red and white - and the performance epitomised a real team togetherness. Bradford themselves are a good team; not as strong as last year, admittedly, but the way they moved the ball at times and stuck to their principles was decent. They had some dangerous players (shout-out to Keke Jeffers and Dylan Wilkinson who I couldn’t fault at all) but they were beaten by hard-work, effort, determination, drive and a good Rovers team eager to get the maximum reward for their efforts.

From a DRFC perspective, perhaps the best thing is the best performers were different to those who were stand-out performers in the 3-0 win over Burton Albion last week.

In particular, Jak Whiting and Will Flint were both excellent - and I’d even go as far as saying it was JW’s best game this season because not only did he score with a low connection from Freddie Allen’s left-wing cross just after half-time (a weird goal as it was sort of scooped up and in by the ‘keeper), he also defended very aggressively, was strong throughout the 90 minutes, plus he made a particularly important interception inside his own six-yard box around the half-hour mark which deserves highlighting as it denied Bradford the chance for a shot on goal at the very least.

Likewise, Will Flint also produced a massive interception (even more vital given the timing) deep into injury-time when any error from him could have had disastrous consequences. It was a good showing - again, one of his best this season too, and it continues a series of performances where he’s been steady, consistent and done well. He doesn’t always get the recognition he deserves but his contribution in this game warrants a lot of applause.

Freddie Allen (especially with his Barnet FC - definite appointment with the hairdressers pending) looks like a totally different player compared to a few months ago. His confidence seems to have grown and I’ve got no doubt that he's benefitting from a consistent run of games now which he just didn’t get in the early stages of the season. He looks settled and accomplished; knows his job, knows his role and will be delighted with one goal, one assist and a pretty good all-round performance where he played a role in quite a few chances and popped the ball about with some good quality. Bravo! Good performance! Have a Sunday Carvery to celebrate!

Elsewhere, Will Green’s crossing is always of a really high standard and he’ll be buzzing off his injury-time assist with a perfect ball into the perfect area that will always cause problems for a team trying to defend against it. He was involved in some good link-up play quite high up the pitch at times and was another good performer in a good all-round team display.

Sam Brown also played really well. He’s still an U16 and has bits to improve - such as his out-of-possession work (notable on one or two occasions where he lost his man in dangerous areas) plus an instance in the first half where he tried to flick it when he just needed to bring it under control (which he was told about at the time) but the amount of times he broke with the ball in that first half - quite a few in transitions or counter-attacking situations and picked a pass, found a team-mate and added such a big threat can’t be played down. There’s a lot of competition but he’s earned and kept a place in this team on merit, you can tell there’s a really bright player in him, and his energy, eagerness, enthusiasm and determination to put a mark on things is quality to see. He won’t want to be reminded of his chance in the first half that he shanked wide; the other one that the ‘keeper tipped round the post was much better, and he’ll also be glad to know I didn’t get a photo of his ‘facials’ when he won a header at one point on the near touchline (they looked spectacular). But this level of performance was good and with little improvements, what an impact he could have over the next few seasons!

Amongst the others, Jack Goodman had a really good battle against Bradford’s defenders including Harvey Rowe (good to catch up with you mate), had a few openings but didn’t score. Harry Wood was quieter compared to last week and his best contribution was probably threading a fantastic ‘eye of the needle’ ball through to Will Green early on and being involved in some good bits of link-up play. Justin Bennett got better as the game progressed having had a difficult start up against Keke Jeffers (who was really sharp with his footwork) but the improvement was there to see - plus he nearly scored with a header midway through the first half that forced a save from the Bradford ‘keeper. Faris Khan also put in a good shift and Alex Fletcher was quieter on the whole compared to last week, as much of the play in this game went down the opposite flank to the one he was on, but his qualities have stood-out at other points this season anyway. And Jacob Bryant - named again, will be happy to be on the winning team once more and there wasn't really anything he could do about the goal he conceded.

With so many players performing well, the work-rate being high and a good team spirit that’s clearly there right now, it bodes well for what remains of the North-East Youth Alliance campaign - and above that, it also feels like so much progress has been made since that horrible morning at Scunthorpe (exactly three months ago) where standards were just not met.

Rovers could still win the league and they’re now six points behind Harrogate who’ve gone top after they won at Grimsby yesterday, but nothing (up to yet) has been said by the EFL in regards to what will happen after every team has played 20 games. Just because the league split into a ‘Merit League’ after everyone had played each other home and away last season - with points from the ‘post split’ fixtures then being added to the table, it doesn’t necessarily mean the same thing is going to happen this year so nothing should be taken for granted until something is confirmed.

All the lads can do, therefore, is keep focussed on themselves and 'control the controllables' of maintaining the high standards which they’ve shown over the past few weeks  - stemming from the point they got the grit between their teeth and turned around a two-goal deficit to beat Huddersfield up to yesterday’s dramatic conclusion!

If they win games consistently then it’s down to Harrogate (who still have to play Lincoln twice in the regular season) and others at the top to deal with any pressure they might feel going into their own games.

Team: Jacob Bryant, Alex Fletcher, Freddie Allen, Justin Bennett, Jak Whiting (C), Will Flint, Sam Brown, Faris Khan, Jack Goodman, Harry Wood, Will Green. Subs: Kasper Williams, Josh Lindley, Jamie Tomlinson, Owen Scattergood, Charlie Petch.