A cold, wet and windy afternoon greeted the arrival of the Queens Park Rangers team at the Keepmoat Stadium this afternoon. The Rovers made one change from the last game at Plymouth a fortnight ago, Quinton Fortune replacing the suspended Martin Woods. Fortune also wears the captain's armband. The visitors include their latest signings, on loan, Tom Williams and Stephen Reid.  The Rovers defended the South Stand end in the first half.

The visitors set the game in motion  but it was five minutes any meaningful action took place. This came when Routledge got to the right byline and crossed to the far post. It was partially cleared to Simpson, who placed his shot for the far top corner well wide. The Rovers then got their game going and in the 13th minute they were awarded a free kick in a central position 25yards from goal. Oster threaded a hard, low shot through the wall to the left of the keeper, who got down well to beat it out for a corner. This produced another corner from which Shiels cut in from the left and blasted at the near post where a combination of the post and keeper kept the ball out for the keeper to eventually claim it. The game settled into an even game with both sides showing their football skills. Leigertwood fired wide from the right after 24minutes and Shiels had a run and shot from 25yards that Cerny saved two minutes later. The midfield battle continued, with the only action in front of goal coming from Routledge, who fired wide from the right angle of the penalty area and Oster, for the Rovers,hitting a terrific drive from 25yards that Cerny beat out double-fisted.

Half -Time - Doncaster Rovers 0 Queens Park Rangers 0

The Rovers started the second half and made their intentions clear by going straight on to the attack but it was the visitors who got the first strike on goal when Simpson fired wide from 25 yards. Play went straight to the other end where Sharp was crowded out in the penalty area as he tried his utmost to make room for a shot at goal. Minutes later Shiels had a shot from 25yards saved. On 53minutes, Sharp received on the edge of the visitors penalty area, swivelled on the ball to hit a powerful drive goalwards but a deflection took it out for a corner. This was swung into the six yard box where the alert SHARP stabbed it into the net. The Rovers were right on their game now and dominating. The 65th minute came up as SHIELS capitalised on a defensive error to rifle in from 20yards. The visitors tried to hit back through Taarabt but Sullivan, diving left, saved his 25yard effort. The Rovers regained their dominance and after 77 minutes Sharp was played through but was brought down by Leigertwood, who was onl booked because there was another defender alongside him. A minute later, the Rovers won a corner which brought strong appeals from the Rovers for a penalty when the ball was played into the middle. No said the referee and the Rangers raced to the Rovers end where they gained a corner. This came to nothingand a couple of minutes later Shiels had a 25yard shot saved. Then Sharp cut in from the left shot for goal but it was blocked at the expense of a corner. This was cleared and the Rangers won a corner of their own followed minutes later by another but the Rovers defended them extemely well considering their lack of inches as opposed to the visiting players. A minute from the end of normal time, Chambers came in from the right, had his shot blocked it fell to Sharp but he could only touch it to Coppinger eight yards out but his effort was blocked and cleared. As the four minutes of added time came up the visitors stormed to the attack but, despite successive corners the Rovers defence stood firm to gain an excellent win over a good team and take the badly-needed three points.

Teams - ROVERS - Neil Sullivan; James Chambers, James O'Connor, Sam Hird, Gareth Roberts; John Oster, Dean Shiels, Simon Gillett, Quinton Fortune; James Coppinger, Billy Sharp

Subs used - Jason Shackell for Fortune 72mins; Mark Wilson for Shiels 85mins; John Spicer for Oster 88mins;

Subs not used - Lewis Guy;  James Hayter, Paul Heffernan, Ben Smith gk

Queens Park Rangers - Radek Cerny; Mikele Leigertwood, Kaspars Gorkss, Matt Connelly, Tom Williams; Stephen Reid, Alejandro Faurlin, Ben Watson, Wayne Routledge; Akos Buzsaky,Jay Simpson

Subs used - Adel Taarabt for Faurlin 46mins; Patrick Agyemang for Buksagy 63mins; Allessandro Pellicori for Simpson 63mins;

Subs not used - Peter Ramage, Damion Stewart, Hogan Ephraim, Shane McSweeney,

Caution - Leigertwood