Going into Rovers’ first round League Cup tie against Bradford City, I must admit I had low expectations. However, a bright and spritely start quickly quelled my fears.
Doncaster almost scored from a corner through Danny Andrew, but took the lead soon after; an initial shot from John Marquis saved by the keeper, but Alfie May beat his man to the mark to stab home the rebound.
May soon threatened again, forcing Colin Doyle into a quick save with an outside-of-the-boot shot after a sharp counter-attack.
Bradford steadily crept into the game; a hard Jake Reeves shot from around 25 yards out was saved by a diving Ian Lawlor. Then, following series of attacks down Rovers’ left-hand side, Dominic Poleon jinked pasted Andrew and Tyler Garrett before beating Lawlor at his near post to equalise.
City continued to have the better of Rovers in the second half’s early stages, until a vicious lunge from Romain Vincelot, which actually didn’t seem to catch May, resulted in a red card. Not long afterwards, Rovers went back in front; loanee Rodney Kongolo smacking home the rebound after his first shot was saved.
Rovers then seemingly sat back, allowing Alex Jones to poke home a late equaliser when the ball fell to his feet from a deflection.
However, Ben Whiteman spared Rovers’ blushes and everyone’s time late on as he whacked a shot into the bottom right hand corner, to put Doncaster through to the second round, where we’ll no doubt draw Oldham away.
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Unusually downbeat !
Hank you, up the Rovers!