Tuesday, July 17, 2012 at Blundell Park, Cleethorpes
Pre-Season Friendly
Grimsby Town 2 DONCASTER ROVERS 3
It’s wet and miserable at the seaside tonight as the Rovers play their second pre-season friendly. The weather obviously affected the attendance, which was a bit on the sparse side.
The Rovers spent the early minutes in the Grimsby half, with the pressure paying off in the 8th minute when Cotterill crossed from the left and SYERS headed in at the far post. Continuing to have the better of the play the Rovers went further ahead in the 14th minute when Bennett fed a great pass out to Cotterill on the left. He cut into the penalty area and was brought down with a clumsy tackle. Penalty said the referee and BROWN duly dispatched the ball past the keeper from the spot. A couple of minutes later and the home team got in an attack on the Rovers goal but no 10 scuffed his shot wide from 20yards. The Rovers soon restored the status quo and in the 28th minute added goal number 3. A cross from the right by Coppinger fell to Brown ten yards out and he was about to shoot when he was felled from behind. This time COTTERILL stepped up and placed the ball past the keeper, who dived the right way but the ball eluded his outstretched arm.
The Rovers made four changes at the start of the second half, with Brian Stock coming on for Syers, Robbie Blake for Bennett, Martin Woods for Keegan and Amari Morgan-Smith for Cotterill. Substitutions on both sides followed at regular intervals. Meanwhile the Mariners had their best spell of the match but although going close they couldn’t find the net. Neither could the Rovers at the other end in their isolated attacks with what was now a completely different line-up. Just past the hour and Grimsby made four changes to their line-up and upped the ante. In the 68th minute a cross from the left by Soares was met with a firm header by SOUTHWELL from 15yards that scorched past Woods. Six minutes later SOUTHWELL found the net again following a corner that came out of the Rovers defence to him. The difference in the game was so profound that it took some believing. The Rovers had dominated the first half but it was the home team who dominated proceedings in the second. However, the Rovers managed to keep them out and claimed a narrow victory.
Teams – Grimsby Town – McKeown; Pattern, Pearson, Miller, Thomas; Niven, Disley, Artus; Soares, Elding, Hearn
Doncaster Rovers – Gary Woods; James O’Connor, Liam Wakefield, George Friend (Jake McCormick 64 mins), Tommy Spurr; James Coppinger(Greg McDermott 55 mins), Paul Keegan (Martin Woods 46 mins), David Syers (Brian Stock 46 mins), David Cotterill (Amari Morgan-Smith 46 mins); Chris Brown (Jordan Ball 51 mins), Kyle Bennett (Robbie Blake 46 mins)