Rovers fall short in Lancashire.
Bury FC – 1 (Clarke 78’)
Doncaster Rovers FC – 0
Saturday 9th April 2016, 3:00pm
Gigg Lane, Bury
Sky Bet League One
Attendance: 3,233 (474 Away)
Darren Ferguson’s men travelled to Greater Manchester for the second time in two weeks, Rovers were denied three valuable points on the road to survival after conceding in the 96th minute at Rochdale last Saturday.
Some early pressure from the visitors nearly paid off with loanee Gary McSheffery producing a speculative overhead kick from six yards out, however goalkeeper Chris Neal was there to tip over his effort.
Against the run of play Bury managed to get their first notable chance on 13th minutes, a through ball from Leon Clarke was picked up by John O’Sullivan who raced through the Rovers defence but there was Remi Williams to produce a brilliant one-one-one save.
Just after the half hour mark Bury had another chance to take the lead and this time they really should have been ahead, a well worked move down Rovers’ right was collected by Tom Soares who lashed the ball goalwards from 10-yards out.
His shot looked destined for the back of the Rovers goal but out of nowhere Williams managed to get the ball out for a corner kick via his own face, talk about taking one for the team.
Doncaster had the final two chances of the first half, centre back Andy Butler was up from the back for another Rovers corner, Coppinger’s kick found his head but he could not angle his effort on target.
Youngster Mitchell Lund had the final effort but his right footed power bolt was just wide of Neal’s left hand post.
Half Time: Bury Football Club 0-0 Doncaster Rovers Football Club
With the rain inevitably coming down in Lancashire, it took until the 58th minute for the first chance of the second period and it should have been the opener.
A dodgy pass back from Chris Hussey was nicked by Andy Williams, the forward raced through unchallenged but he somehow managed to sky the ball over Neal’s crossbar.
Two minutes later Thorsten Stuckmann made the save of the season, some intrusive build up play by Bury saw the ball land at the feet of O’Sullivan who had already troubled the Rovers defence in this game.
However this time he decided to shoot from 20 yards, his left footed strike seemed destined to find Stuckmann’s top left corner but out came the Germans big right hand to tip the ball round the post and away to safety.
The main talking point of the game came on the 65th minute as Rovers seemed to have broken the deadlock, a corner from McSheffrey was headed straight in by Williams but the linesman had his flag up straight away to deny Rovers a priceless goal.
Rovers were banging on the door more frequently as the half went on with Richard Chaplow leading by example, the 31- year old managed to loop his header over Neal but there was Peter Clarke to clear off the line.
Then a real hammer blow was dealt to Doncaster as David Flitcroft’s side took the lead.
It was O’Sullivan once again who caused Rovers trouble as his out-swinging cross beautifully picked out the well placed Leon Clarke who blasted a right-footed effort past the helpless Stuckmann.
Ferguson’s men threw everything they had at Bury in the remaining minutes of the game but they could not seem to get back on level terms late into the game.
Full Time: Bury Football Club 1-0 Doncaster Rovers Football Club
BFC STARTING XI: Neal, Hussey (Pugh 74’), P.Clarke, L.Clarke, Mayor, Pope (Lowe 68’), Jones, O’Sullivan, Soares (C), Bolger, Gardner (Etuhu 45’).
BFC SUBS NOT USED: Ruddy, Sedgwick, Delfouneso, Rose.
DRFC STARTING XI: Matthews (Stuckmann 36’), Lund, McCullough, Butler, McSheffrey, Chaplow (MacKenzie 86’), Williams, Taylor-Sinclair, Rowe, Coppinger (C) (Tyson 80’), Middledton.
DRFC SUBS NOT USED: Evina, Mandeville, Stewart, Davies.