Doncaster Rovers (U18s) 3-0 Burton Albion (U18s)

Doncaster Rovers (U18s) 3-0 Burton Albion (U18s)

EFL Youth Alliance

Saturday 18th February 2023

Doncaster Rovers were the deserved winners in this game against Burton Albion at Cantley Park - earning an important three points which keeps alive their title ambitions.

In a dominant display where Rovers looked assured and in control for probably 90% of the game, they got the points thanks to two goals by Jack Goodman who now has 19 for the season (not bad going considering it’s only February), whilst Harry Wood was also on target for the second time in three weeks.

It was a really good team performance because although Burton went into the game above Rovers in the league table, the Brewers were made to look very ordinary.

After a bizarre early stoppage where play was briefly halted due to the pitch not being marked out properly (no corner flags), Rovers soon marked out their intentions to do damage by taking the lead inside the first quarter-hour when Harry Wood made a great run to latch onto Sam Brown’s pass and duly slid an inviting ball into the near-post from the byline which Goodman tucked away. 

Simple but effective!

Buoyed with confidence at being 1-0 up, Wood was again effective in Rovers’ next move as another inviting cross into the box was flicked on by Faris Khan, with the ball appearing to catch the hand of Burton’s captain - leading to shouts for a penalty, albeit nothing was forthcoming.

Then, just past the half-hour mark with Donny still on top, Brown was the orchestrator of one of the best moves throughout the game when he intercepted a sloppy pass out from the ‘keeper, instinctively fed a pass out wide to Alex Fletcher who made a great overlapping run, before the ball was moved back inside to Will Green whose left-foot drive from the edge of the box forced a low save. It was decent, quick, sharp and incisive stuff and a good marker of what these lads can do when they’ve got their confidence up!

The Brewers were caught playing out from the back a few more times before the break; Will Green having one effort blocked whilst another pole-axed the Brewers No.4 who caught the ball clean in the knackers and understandably needed a few minutes to recover, whilst Fletcher - really good in the latter stages of the first half, went on a decent 20-yard or so run which culminated in him firing a low shot goalwards that was kept out.

Albeit by no means at their best, Burton still had a few chances - the best of which saw No.11 burst down the right flank thanks to some electric pace and have a pop at goal but Jacob Bryant did well to get down low and make a save.

Nonetheless, by half-time it remained 1-0.

Rovers knew what they needed to do next in the game was to add a second goal and not long after the re-start, 'Number Two' duly arrived - and it was a good goal as well; set in motion by Faris Khan’s intricate back-heel (cheeky but effective) to release Fletcher in a deep and dangerous position on the right and his inviting ball across the goalmouth found the run of Wood who hammered it home from close-range. Bang. Bosh. 2-0, just like that!

Despite the commanding position they were now in, Rovers dropped off for a five-minute spell immediately after adding that second goal (something to be aware of in future games) and on another day it might have proved costly because Burton came within a whisker of reducing arrears when their No.9 weaved his way into the box and flashed a low drive across goal which went narrowly wide of the far-post.

If that had gone in then it would have been ‘Game On’ but instead it was soon effectively ‘Game Over’ as Bryant’s long downfield ball saw Goodman wrestle goal-side of his marker and latch onto the ball and in a one-on-one he made no mistake in burying his shot for his 19th goal of the season.

A series of substitutions by both teams followed but Rovers worked hard for their clean-sheet and earned it thanks to Bryant who pulled off what was undoubedtly the best save of the morning right at the end of the game as he palmed over a speculative 30-yard shot from a Burton player which looked destined for the top corner until his intervention.

Overall, it was a very good win - totally deserved and the scoreline was a fair reflection of what unfolded.

From a results viewpoints, what it means is that although Rovers are still 7th in the North-East Youth Alliance table, they’re now only six points off top spot and have games in hand on every team above them - and with two huge fixtures soon to come against Bradford City (who beat table-toppers Harrogate Town), the results of those are likely to have a big bearing on their fortunes and whether they can challenge for the title.

Individually, there were lots of good contributions from Rovers’ players.

There’s still a few things to learn with regards to the out-of-possession and off-the-ball stuff (hence a few tickings off from the touchline at times which were all warranted), but it was a very positive day and positive performance where the lads set high standards.

One of the big reasons they got the win (and dominated) was because of how hard the midfield worked and it’s one of the best games I’ve seen from Justin Bennett who’ll be happy to have got a full 90 minutes under his belt. Sam Brown also looked sharp and bright and good with his passing which helped to create quite a few openings. Faris Khan played a key part in the second goal with his audaciousness and showed a few other tidy touches (a shame the referee didn’t give the penalty in the first half when he flicked it up and drew a handball but ‘Hey Ho’ that’s life). 

Will Green was involved in a few good bits of play and on another day might have scored with either of the two shots he had blocked or the one where the ‘keeper saved it - and the same could be said of Alex Fletcher who came into his own in that little spell before half-time when he offered an outlet, overlapped well, posed a serious threat - and it’s evident and blatantly obvious he’s grasped what’s required of him at youth level and is one of the best players in this team.

Harry Wood deserves credit because his intelligence and understanding of the game - especially with the runs he makes and positions he gets into, is why I’ve already got a lot of respect for him. His ‘awareness’ and tendency to just make certain runs (which poses questions for defenders) stood out and was why he was involved in so many attacking moves throughout the game. Along with the assist (excellent ball), I'm even more delighted that he’s now added an ‘end product’ and is scoring goals at last because that will allow him to get more of the plaudits and recognition which he deserves. Another contribution of his which didn't go unnoticed was that he was often the loudest player in the Rovers team - clapping, trying to encourage those around him and raise standards in that sloppy five-minute spell at 2-0 where things just dipped a bit. A good contribution. There was one piece of over-enthusiasm in the first half when he burst straight into an offside position and didn’t check his line whilst trying to make himself available during a quick turnover - that's something to get better at, but on the whole, he’s coming into his own, he’s showing a lot of bright characteristics and played a massively important role in this win. Keep it up!

And up top, Jack Goodman will have been happy to have grabbed two more goals. The first being predatory; the second being persistent and a pain in the arse for the Burton defenders who he had on toast for pretty much the whole game. His movement was good, his work-rate has stood out at other points this season and right now he’s one of the best strikers in this division - without a shadow of a doubt!

The Rovers defence; Freddie Allen (most comfortable game I’ve seen him have), Will Flint (steady and consistent as per usual) and Jak Whiting (the skipper) each worked hard for the clean-sheet they kept - and Jacob Bryant deserves it purely on the basis of his full-stretch fingertip save right at the end which will no doubt be going on his highlights reel.

A little mention also to Kasper Williams who came on in the latter stages. Apart from the free-kick he gave away right on the byline in the closing minutes (definitely one for him to learn from), it’s the first time I’ve seen him play and he created a pretty reasonable first impression with the simplicity of his defending. No frills, just ‘head it, kick it’ and that was good and I can appreciate on first viewing what he’s all about and the qualities he’s got already.

Unfortunately I don’t know the names of the Burton’s players (no team-sheet) but their best players were No.11 who had a quick turn of pace and a willingness to track back into the opposition half to win the ball - something which happened three times in the first half and is the sort of thing that gets noticed. No.9 was also good; he didn’t score but was quick with his feet, persistent and worked hard albeit to no avail. No.7 who was lively at times and No.2 who was a decent, full-back and reasonable enough on the ball.

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

Other results this weekend

Harrogate 1-2 Bradford - a cat, some pigeons and a title race alive again.

Huddersfield 4-5 Lincoln - a scoreline which doesn’t surprise me whatsoever.

Mansfield 1-3 Grimsby - never write off the Mariners unless you’re absolutely stupid.

Scunthorpe 2-0 Hartlepool - two more goals for Harrison Poulter.