FA Cup Third Round
at the Keepmoat Stadium
Doncaster Rovers (0) 0
Rochdale (1) 1
Calvin Andrew 18
Admission £15. Programme £3.
Attendance: 4,513 (547 away)
In the interim, Whiteman, who it was assumed would see the remainder of the season out at Donny, has been recalled from his loan spell by Sheffield United's manager Chris Wilder, because the Blades have suffered from a number of injuries to key players.
By all accounts there is a possibility that the influential midfielder, who turned out on loan for Mansfield town last season, might still return to the Rovers fold again this season at a later date, but only time will tell.
In between the two Rovers v Dale matches at the Keepmoat, on New Years Day, Darren Ferguson's side picked up a point on their travels at Peterborough United,
Having weighed up Donny's strengths and weaknesses last time out, Keith Hill, still sporting his Jack Sugden apparel from last night's Emmerdale fancy dress bash, had concocted a game plan to overcome them. John Marquis had obviously been earmarked as one of the strengths and he was targeted after just twenty seconds, with a crude borderline assassination by Jimmy McNulty, who clattered into the Rovers number nine, with a knee high challenge inside the first twenty seconds of the game. McNulty was shown a yellow card while Marquis received treatment, but if the punishment had fitted the crime, then the visitors could've been down to ten men almost from the off.
To be frank, I've seen May play far better than he did throughout today's lacklustre showing and it wouldn't have been a surprise to have seen him substituted for Liam Mandeville at half time as opposed to the eighty eighth minute, when the swap actually took place, while a number of home fans sat close by in the West Stand expressed their lack of approval with his input for the afternoon.
Rochdale's Ian Henderson was pivotal to most of the positive things that the visitors created, as they began to make in roads into Doncaster territory, particularly down the right flank, with the vulnerable left hand side of Rovers rearguard obviously having been earmarked as a weak spot.
But football is meant to be a competitive game and players will come into contact with each other at full tilt from time to time, especially when the match officials adopt a laissez-faire approach to applying the rules of the game.
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| 547 Rochdale fans |
In the eighteenth minute the visitors probed forward on the right and Niall Mason was penalised for fouling Andy Cannon.
Joe Bunney delivered the resulting free kick towards the back post, clearing a scrum of players in the six yard box, to where Calvin Andrew timed his jump well and glanced a header beyond the reach of Lawlor to claim the only goal of the game.
A few minutes later, Marquis upended Done who was starting to impose himself on the game and picked up a yellow card to go with his bruises.
Rodney Kongolo was having a good game for the home side, helping out in defence one minute then terrorising the opposition on the right the next, but Lillis was putting in a determined shift and thwarting Donny when Marquis and Matt Blair both had half decent chances to level things up, while Daniels and Kgosu Ntlhe both made blocking tackles.
HT: Rovers 0 v Dale 1
Rovers had grown in stature towards the end of the first half and it was beginning to look as though it was only a matter of time until they were on level terms, but although they upped the ante even more after half time, it was proving to be a frustrating afternoon for Darren Ferguson and his side.
Tommy Rowe was proving to be a handful for the visitors defence, but they were still, just about, hanging on by the skin of their teeth.
Rowe put the ball in from the mix and it sat up perfectly Beestin who struck his shot from point blank range well, and on target, but Lillis pulled off a quite remarkable save to preserve his clean sheet.
Henderson struck a shot from twenty five yards that flew a few feet wide of Lawlor's right hand post and then started a move including Andrew and Cannon, that saw the ball knocked away from the Doncaster goal area into the path of Bunney who unleashed a rasping, dipping shot that narrowly cleared the crossbar.
Done dispossessed Matthieu Baudry and broke forward on the left hand side of the area, but the Rovers number five got back quickly to salvage the situation at the expense of a corner.
Having survived a spell of pressure, Donny were soon cursing their luck again, when a thumping effort from Marquis came off of the foot of the upright, after Kongolo had done well to create the chance.
Andrew had gone back to add his height to Rochdale's all out defence approach to the closing stages of the game while even Lawlor was going up the field for set pieces.
Rovers had four penalty appeals waved away as the crowd behind the goal they were attacking serenaded Mr Woolmer with a heartfelt chorus of "Your not fit to referee!" and I certainly thought that they were unlucky not to have been given two spot kicks, when the Rovers substitute James Coppinger was halted with a forearm smash and Rowe was taken out by a two footed foul.
Butler and Rowe were both guilty of missing opportunities as Rochdale hung on, much to the delight of their travelling supporters who sang them home across the finishing line... and Doncaster Rovers interest in the FA Cup was over for another year after Jamie Houghton, a loanee from Chelsea shot over the bar as the game went into added time.
FT: Doncaster Rovers 0 v Rochdale 1
Having just listened to the BBC Radio Sheffield football phone in: 'Praise or Grumble' on the way home, it was clear that the Rovers fans who called were adamant that poor match officials had cost their side a place in the next round, while Darren Ferguson lamented about his team not finishing the numerous chances that they had created.
Personally, I reckon that Doncaster would've been on their way to a replay at Spotland, at the very least, if it hadn't been for the agility of the visitors keeper Josh Lillis.
