EFL Youth Alliance
Saturday 15th April 2023
A week on from their dramatic comeback win over Lincoln City, this was a performance that Doncaster Rovers’ U18s will want to forget as they were deservedly beaten by an impressive Burton Albion side.
The Brewers dominated pretty much the entire game with Drew Robinson and Jack Newell getting themselves on the score-sheet - and had it not been for a bit of bad luck, they would have won by a bigger margin. How the North-East Youth Alliance’s top scorer, Dylan Scott, didn’t score I don’t know!
The Cantley Park pitch was in an even worse condition than last week; something probably not helped by the torrential two-hour downpour on Friday afternoon either, but after last week’s shenanigans where the assistants didn’t turn up, the good news this time around was that they were on-site nice and early. And unlike the last time when the Brewers were here, the corner flags were in position too, meaning there were no delays to kick-off!
Burton looked really sharp early on and their ‘high press’ was very impressive because it gave Rovers little time on the ball, and little time to settle in general, and having forced an early chance when Jake Oram saved at his near-post, the Brewers No.8 (Ronny Wakelin) soon let fly with an effort which narrowly cleared the upright.
Rovers spent a lot of time pushed back early on and Alex Fletcher, at right-wing-back, made a couple of good interceptions under pressure whilst Freddie Allen also produced some decent defending to thwart Burton in one particular instance where he was required to read the situation properly. There was a moment of brief respite at the other end when Harry Wood used his body superbly to win a corner in a battle with the Brewers’ No.3, albeit the resulting set-piece came to nothing as the team in yellow cleared their lines.
Still on top by the half-hour mark, Dylan Scott was unfortunate not to bag his 30th goal of the season when he got power behind an effort from inside the box after Jack Newell slipped a neat pass through to his feet, but soon enough the Brewers went 1-0 up as Jacob Bacon was judged to have fouled the No.8 on the edge of the box and Drew Robinson executed the subsequent free-kick with utter perfection; sending it into the bottom-right corner with Jake Oram unable to get near it.
It probably wasn’t a free-kick because Bacon slid in and won the ball, then Wakelin who was in close proximity anticipating any second ball, went over the initial tackle involving another player to invite the contact, but on the balance of play it was a thoroughly deserved lead - and intelligent play to win that free-kick.
Rovers nearly responded straight away as the trailist playing up top charged down an intended downfield ball by the Burton ‘keeper, with the ball ricocheting wide, but likewise the Brewers soon had a glorious chance to grab a second goal as Wakelin got on the end of a left-wing cross and volleyed over, despite the fact he was completely unmarked and probably had enough time to bring it down, pick his spot and wave to everyone on the touchline if he’d wanted to.
The first half then ended with DRFC probably creating their best chance of the entire game as Jacob Bacon lost his marker from Will Green’s corner, got to the near-post area and glanced his header across the face of goal and somehow wide of the far-post. Unlucky!
A couple of changes were then made at half-time as last week’s game-changer Max Adamson replaced Harry Wood, whilst Tom Parkinson (fresh back from his loan at Armthorpe Welfare whose season has now finished) also came on for one of Rovers’ two trialists who has featured in the past couple of weeks. However, this time around, Adamson was just unable to inspire any change as Frank Sinclair’s team still couldn’t get into any sort of rhythm.
The second half was scrappy for spells and even when chances were created, they were mostly by the visitors with Dylan Scott being thwarted in a one-on-one after more neat, nice and nifty interchange play involving Jack Newell shortly after the re-start, before he had an effort deflected wide during a passage of play in which Newell was down on the deck and play had been allowed to continue.
Scott’s technique was good throughout and in his next chance both his positioning and body movement was excellent as he superbly spun away from his marker to create space for a shot about seven or eight yards out which he somehow put wide of the post. Quite how, who knows - perhaps it’s just the curse of playing against Doncaster for him?
Wakelin and Toby Oakes had shots from distance as Burton remained in the ascendancy and after a few rallying calls amongst the Albion players for more, plus another effort by Dylan Scott that he’d have probably buried on a different day, a much-deserved second goal finally came with just under 20 minutes remaining with Jack Newell nonchalantly back-heeling the ball home from the edge of the six-yard box with Charlie Knowles claiming the assist.
The Brewers could have added more in the latter stages as Newell was thwarted via Jake Oram’s trailing leg in one move, and in another just a moment or two later, good old Dylan Scott finally put the ball in the net, wheeled away to celebrate, only to look up and see the linesman had raised his flag for offside!
It was just not going to happen for him!
The closest Rovers came to setting up any kind of exciting finish similar to last weekend was when Max Adamson got fed a ball inside the box, put power behind his effort but not accuracy as the ball cleared the upright.
Overall, this was a day to forget for Rovers who weren’t at the races, were second-best throughout and never got going. It looked disjointed and it wasn’t a good performance. It was a step backwards compared to all the good attributes on show last week and in the analysis sessions next week, there’s plenty to learn and digest.
Burton deserve all the credit because they were superb from the first minute to the last; pressing high and pressing well from the outset, being determined, being strong in certain areas, going about things with a purpose, implementing their game-plan with aggression, and the four stand-out performers all had a yellow shirt on.
Ronnie Wakelin was excellent and easily the best midfielder in the game (plenty of good runs from midfield to get into really problematic areas where he could pose a massive threat, picking up lots of loose and second balls, great intelligence to win the free-kick for the opener; albeit he should have scored just after that). Jack Newell was very sharp, took his goal well and showed bits of quality and good link-up play evidenced a few times. Toby Oakes was solid, didn’t really give anything away, marshaled quite a few things and offered a good presence in the team where he read the game from centre-back, and Dylan Scott impressed with his technique, skill and movement (particularly in the chance where he spun in the box to almost create the opening for himself). I wanted to watch him specifically to find out what he was about - whether he’s just a scorer or if there’s more facets to his game and everything was there in his performance bar a goal that he deserved. It happens sometimes, he’ll have those days (and it always seems to be against Doncaster for him) but he’s a good player (no doubt about that), he proved it in various instances, and his record speaks for itself this season anyway.
Will Flint was just about the best player in a Rovers shirt as he defended aggressively, looked solid and even Dylan Scott struggled to get much from him, but by the time he was pushed forward into midfield again (as happened last week), Burton were in such a strong position that it was hard to change the game. And Jamie Tomlinson also deserves a mention because although his appearance was only a 20-minute cameo from the bench, he again get into good areas where he could be a threat and probably deserves a start in one of the remaining two games of the season. Will it happen? We shall see.
In the other Merit League game played this weekend, Lincoln beat Bradford; a result which means the title is very much there to lose now for Harrogate who still actually have to play both Burton and Doncaster.
Doncaster: Jake Oram, Freddie Allen, Jacob Bacon, Will Flint, Will Green, Faris Khan (Kasper Williams), Sam Brown, Alex Fletcher, Trialist (Jamie Tomlinson), Harry Wood (Max Adamson), Trialist (Tom Parkinson). Unused Sub: Kenzie Dillon.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.