Paul Dickov's men held their own against Sky Bet Championship side Nottingham Forest as Curtis Main's opener is cancelled out by a stunning left-footed curler from Chris Burke.
Rovers - 1 (Main 15')
Nottingham Forest - 1 (Burke 34')
Tuesday 21st July, 2015 7.45pm
The Keepmoat, Doncaster
Pre Season Friendly
Forest started the brighter of the two sides in the early exchanges, and could have possibly taken the lead but for the heroics of central defender Rob Jones the score stayed level.
Some slick interchanging passing from Chris Burke and Jamie Ward created some space for striker Dexter Blackstock who looked favourite to score, but across came the large frame of Jones who stuck out a leg to deny the Forest man.
Rovers got a foot hold in the game after that early scare. Harry Forrester's corner was cleared straight back to the wide man, an overlapping run by James Coppinger turned out to be a very clever distraction as Forrester cut inside and curled an effort just wide of the right post.
Rovers began to knock on the Forest door and they found a way through it on the 15th minute. A free kick by Forrester caused problems with the Forest defence, the ball landed at the feet of Curtis Main who lashed his left-footed effort into the back of Dimitar Evtimov's net to silence the travelling support.
Rovers continued to impress as James Coppinger flicked a delightful back heel into the path of Forrester before squaring it to Middleton, but the youngster decided to pass on the responsibility of having a pop to better positioned Cedric Evina. The advancing left back fired straight at Evtimov who parried his effort back into the box.
Unfortunately for Rovers, Curtis Main could not poke the rebound home.
The Sky Bet Championship side began to fight back and they pulled themselves back level with 11 minutes of the first half remaining after a piece of brilliance from Chris Burke.
The wide man danced past Aaron Taylor-Sinclair down the right hand side, he cut back onto his left foot and curled a beautiful effort giving German Thorsten Stuckmann no chance in the Doncaster net.
Forest came close to taking the lead moments before half time. A Burke corner was headed goal wards by Blackstock, luckily for Rovers youngster Harry Middleton was well placed on the line to get rid of the danger.
Half time: Doncaster Rovers 1-1 Nottingham Forest
The 887 travelling supporters saw their side have the first chance of the second half, substitute Jamie Paterson saw his right- footed effort tipped round the post by Stuckmann minutes after the restart.
However, Rovers responded and it was another Harry Forrester free kick that troubled the Forest defence. His right-footed in swinger was met by the head of substitute Andy Butler who guided his header just over the crossbar.
Paterson continued to be a thorn in the side of the Doncaster defence as he broke free of them for the second time, this time Paul Dickov can thank new signing Thorsten Stuckmann for his heroics in the Rovers goal. The big goalkeeper did extremely well to get down and make an experienced save with his right leg.
'Their one of our own' were the chants from the stands as Dickov brought on a number of first and second year professionals that have progressed through the ranks of the club, players such as; Mitchell Lund, Liam Mandeville, Billy Whitehouse, Matthew Parkin and Jordan Linley.
With a number of stoppages and substitutions in the second half, the game had a typical 'pre-season' feel about it but Rovers held their own and the referee blew for full time, ending the game at 1-1.
A solid performance from a new look Rovers side, who look to continue their unbeaten pre-season against another Sky Bet Championship side in the form of Middlesbrough.
Full time: Doncaster Rovers 1-1 Nottingham Forest
Rovers starting XI: Stuckmann, Evina, McCullough, Jones (c) (Butler 45'), Main (Linley 89'), Forrester (Carberry 75'), MacKenzie (Lund 61'), Coppinger (P.McKay 61'), Middleton (Parkin 89'), Taylor-Sinclair (Whitehouse 45'), Williams (Mandeville 61')
Subs: Marosi
Forest starting XI: Evitmov, Riera, Mills, Wilson, Lansbury, Pinillos, Taylor, Blackstock, Vaughan, Burke, Ward.
Subs: De Vires, Lichaj, Mancienne, Tesche, Fox, Walker, Antonio, Maynard, Hobbs, McLaughlin, Grant, Osborn.