After recording the first popular STAND podcast just two days before this game it was inevitable that all my observations about Rovers’ start to the season would be proved completely inaccurate within 48 hours. Continue reading “Portsmouth 1-2 Doncaster Rovers: 250 word match report”
The problem with paint drying is that it’s hard to know what you are going to get. You’ve painted the fireplace wall and returned after supper to find it is bone dry, but take the same paint with a matt finish and apply it to the upstairs bathroom and all of a sudden you’re left red faced with paint all over your paws.
Continue reading “Doncaster Rovers 0-0 Fleetwood Town: 250 word match report”
Craven Cottage is a lush away day. It’s got heritage, tradition, good burgers and it’s ten minutes away from my missus’ house. After a win at the weekend and with the memory of Watford away still fresh, I had high hopes for this one.
First half was one to forget, it was stale but we could have easily gone in three down. This was due to a frail defence and a lone striker acting like a dog fetching sticks. If Fulham had a little more panache the game would have been over after the first thirty minutes.
During the second half break Paul Dickov must have read my article advising that we play two upfront and get Forrester involved, because low and behold Theo Robinson came on for Richie Wellens and Harry Forrester replaced Kyle Bennett, who I hadn’t even realised was on the pitch. Coincidence?
Cue second half revival. The boys passed the ball with an eye on making chances. Nice triangle passing in and around the box before Coppinger netted and we were on for a comeback. Robinson received a luscious ball at the back post that was intercepted by a Fulham hand. Penalty awarded. Penalty squandered. Good save, but weak penalty.
It was a match of two halves, they deserved to be two up in first half, we deserved to score two in second, but that’s football. Tyson off in injury time, think it was a head injury. Coppinger man of the match by a country mile.
by Jack Peat
Before penning this I noted down the title ‘Upset in Somerset’, a play on words as much as a premonition, but still, I had a bad feeling about this one.
The teams entered to a trumpet tune akin to the fanfare Ryanair play when the plane to Alicante arrives on time. After ten minutes, the first action with a Rovers penalty shout of the ‘seen them given’ variety, but it wasn’t and City’s first goal followed shortly after. Rovers failed to clear and paid for it with a clumsy goalmouth scramble ended by an easy toe in.
The second goal was a farce – embarrassingly bad. Cedric Evina dribbled the ball along the goal line instead of hoofing it clear allowing Mark Little to slide in behind him and poke the ball home, again!
After half-time the cause looked more lost when Harry Forrester booted the ball at the net from halfway, long after the whistle had been blown; missing the goal by a wide margin and receiving a second yellow card for his troubles.
Rovers did have a goal ruled out midway through the half; Nathan Tyson finishing well after the whistle. He didn’t get a cautrion; perhaps it’s dependent on the quality of the finish?
City’s third was another lacklustre defensive mistake leading to another easy tap in.
The game was evenly matched, but lost through four silly mistakes. I had 3-0 City on a betting slip before the game only to talk myself out of it. Dickhead.
by Jack Peat
Jack Peat joins the fanzine team to look at social stratification and Doncastrian football fans.
Karl Marx has no place in football. He tried once, replacing Ludwig Wittgenstein in Monty Python’s Philosophers’ Football Match, but did nothing to advance the game. As he retired to the dressing room he decided to write about football stratification in Doncaster instead, and he only went and nailed it. Continue reading “Just a Pub Team”
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