A windy and rainy evening welcomed Newcastle United to the Keepmoat Stadium for the first time in a competitive fixture and in fact it was back in November 1947 when they last visited Doncaster in a League game, at Belle Vue. The Rovers made two changes from Saturday. Dean Shiels replaced Jay Emmanuel-Thomas, who drops to the bench. and Billy Sharp coming in for James Coppinger. The Rovers defended the South Stand end in the first half.
Newcastle got the game underway and spent most of the first ten minutes in the Rovers half. Carroll, 0n 6minutes Carroll had a good chance but blazed high over the bar followed a minute later by Taylor hitting a cross over the bar. In the 14th minute, the visitors were awarded a free kick on their right halfway into the Rovers half. Taylor put the ball right across the face of goal but nobody got a touch so Carroll chased the ball over on the left and won a corner. A second corner also proved fruitless. Newcastle continued to have the better possession but on 21 minutes, Sharp cut in from the Rovers left and hit a shot which Harper parried diving to his left at the near post, a defender clearing before Hayter could get to the ball. Four minutes later and Sharp again got down the left to win a corner, which was cleared out of the Newcastle defence to Gutierrez to go down their left and force a corner off Chambers. Just before half hour came a flash point when Shiels won a corner on the Rovers left, took it quickly only for Taylor to get in the way about a yard away from the ball. He was cautioned but some of the Newcastle players protested not just to the referee but had a go at Shiels. Past the half hour and a good move down the Rovers right, Shiels to Oster, who crossed low to Shiels in front of goal. He missed the ball but it ran to Sharp, who hit it tamely at Harper. The Rovers were now having a fairer share of the play as time ran down to the interval but it was mostly in midfield.
Half time - Doncaster Rovers 0 Newcastle United 0
The rain had stopped during the first half but it was cold as the Rovers restarted the game after the break. Again midfield play was dominant although the visitors won a corner after 49minutes but nothing came from it. Three minutes later a free kick from Woods, for the Rovers, in a central position 25yards out was saved by Harper. At the other end Carroll put wide from 15yards. Then Shiels, Hayter and Woods combined to give Woods a shot from 30yards but he put it wide. Then, in the 59th minute, came the breakthrough. Wilson's pass on the halfway line went straight to a Newcastle man, who played a through ball to CARROLL. A big strong lad he held off two defenders to slot past Sullivan. Past thye ho0ur and Woods, on the left unleashed a terrific drive that Harper, at full length couldn't hold. Sharp slammed the ball into the net but he was given offside. Minutes later and Woods hit a thirty-yarder high over the bar. Continuing to attack, the Rovers forced a corner but Harper made the catch. In the 74th minute Routledge, on the Newcastle right, passed inside to Nolan but Sullivan saved his effort from the edge of the penalty area. The Rovers tried hard to find an equaliser but Newcastle were equal to the task of thwarting them. In the 86th minute a Rovers corner produced a header from Emmanuel-Thomas but Harper saved easily. It just didn't happen for the Rovers despite pressing hard in the last 15minutes. The Newcastle defence proved to be fully capable of keeping the Rovers attack at bay.
Result - Doncaster Rovers 0 Newcastle United 1
Teams - ROVERS - Neil Sullivan; James Chambers, James O'Connor, Shelton Martis, Gareth Roberts; John Oster;, Mark Wilson, Martin Woods, Dean Shiels; James Hayter, Billy Sharp
Subs used - Jay Emmanuel-Thomas for Wilson 74mins; Jordon Mutch for Roberts 87mins; John Spicer for Shiels 87mins;
Subs not used - Adam Lockwood, Sean McDaid, Sam Hird, Ben Smith gk
Newcastle United - Steve Harper; Ryan Taylor, Fabricio Coloccini, Tomas Kadar, Danny Simpson; Wayne Routledge, Danny Guthrie, Nicky Butt, Jonas Gutierrez, Kevin Nolan, Andy Carroll,
Subs used - Joey Barton for Guthrie 74 mins; Fabrice Pancrate for Routledge 88mins;
Subs not used - Jose Enrique, Leon Best, Nile Ranger, Tim Krul gk, Ben Tozer gk
Cautions - Taylor, Simpson, Nolan
