Two stunning goals from striker Liam Mandeville was not enough as Chesterfield ran out 3-2 winners at the Proact Stadium.
Chesterfield Development - 3 (Harrison 21' 75', Gnanduillet 35')Doncaster Rovers Development - 2 (Mandeville 24' 40')
Tuesday 9th September 2015, 2:00pm
Proact Stadium, Chesterfield
Final Third Development League
Two stunning goals from striker Liam Mandeville was not enough as Chesterfield ran out 3-2 winners at the Proact Stadium. Two goals from two corners proved to be the undoing for Rovers as they missed the chance to claim any points on the opening day of the new league season.
The home side began the better of the two teams and it took them less than 10 minutes to create the first chance of the game, some good play between Dion Donohue and Byron Harrison created a small opening for Harrison, but his effort was easily saved by Marko Marosi.
It was Donohue again with an effort that looked destined for the bottom right corner, but luckily for Rovers the right foot of Kevin Mbuti was there to guide the ball out for a corner.
From that resulting corner Chesterfield opened the scoring, a whipped ball from Donohue found the head of Harris whose bullet header gave Marosi in the Doncaster goal no chance. Rovers hit back almost instantly through Mandeville, he picked the ball up on the edge of the area and unleashed a stunning effort that flew into the top right corner.
With the stopwatch counting down to half time the Spireites regained the lead with another set piece, another corner from Donohue was headed down by Michael Onovwigun and it was acrobatically finished by Armand Gnanduillet.
Back came Rovers and it was another stunner from Mandeville, the youngster was set up by Dany N'Guessen who made a penetrating run through the Chesterfield defence before laying it back to Mandeville who lashed the ball past goalkeeper Alex Cairns.
Half time: Chesterfield Development 2-2 Doncaster Rovers Development
With the words of Rob Jones ringing in the players ears they began the second with a spring in their step. N'Guessen had the first chance for Rovers, his 20-yard run created some trouble for the hosts but unfortunately for the striker his effort was well saved by Cairns.
A moment of brilliance from Michael Carberry just after the hour mark nearly put the visitors in front, a cross-come-shot from 45-yards out caused Cairns in the Chesterfield goal a lot of problems, he ended up pushing the ball back into the centre where Matthew Davies was waiting but he could not direct the ball into the back of the empty net.
With 15 minutes of the game left the home side got the last killer goal, a long ball over the top by Jake Orrell found Harrison who had made a diagonal run into the penalty area, the young lad who had already got himself on the score sheet managed to double his tally with a left-footed effort that rolled into the bottom corner.
Full time: Chesterfield Development 3-2 Doncaster Rovers Development
CFC STARTING XI: Cairns, Beesley, Humphreys, Maguire, Donohue, Onovwigun, Simons, Harrison, Gnanduillet (Daly 70') Diesweruvwe (Marshall 72') Orrell.
CFC SUBS NOT USED: Wright, Greaves.
DRFC STARTING XI: Marosi, Greasley, Carberry, Keegan (Linley 45') P.McKay, Mbuti, Whitehouse, Wellens (Parkin 59') N'Guessen (Pugh 68') Mandeville, Davies.
DRFC SUBS NOT USED: Jones, Williamson