Chris Whincop's lobbed effort ensured Rovers U18s got a share of the points against Hull City.
Saturday, 16 February 2013 at Cantley Park, Doncaster
Football League Youth Alliance, North East Conference
Doncaster Rovers Youth 1 Hull City Youth 1
On a sunny and relatively mild morning the Under 18s met their counterparts from Hull, 3rd against 1st.
From the start Hull showed they why they were top of the division dominating play in the first twenty minutes.
However, Rovers defence was far from overwhelmed by the pressure and protected Aaron Busby in the Rovers goal from having much to do.
The nearest the visitors came to breaking the deadlock came in the 15th minute, a free kick was deflected for a corner which was duly dealt with at the expense of another corner.
By the 26th minute the Rovers had got their game together and a free kick from Middleton was dropped by Joe Cracknell in the Hull goal causing a melee in the six-yard box before eventually being cleared.
Three minutes later Alex Peterson headed on a long clearance from the Rovers defence for Chris Whincop to pick up with plenty of space round him. He managed to carry the ball to the edge of the penalty however his left footed shot carried no power and Cracknell saved easily in the Tigers goal.
Five minutes on and Lewis Ferguson forced a corner on the Rovers right, Evan Finnegan swung in a left footed ball into the middle of the goal-line however the keeper, under heavy pressure, did well to knock it away.
After a positive fifteen minutes for the Rovers the visitors got a foothold in the game but the half time break arrived with the game still at stalemate.
Half Time – Doncaster Rovers Yth 0 Hull City Yth 0
No doubt the half time pep talk from Messrs Wilson & Stancliffe was responsible for the Rovers starting the second half all guns blazing.
A half time change was made with Spencer Lund replacing Harry Middleton.
Sweeping on to the attack from the kick off their pressure paid off in the 50th minute when a good cross from Ferguson on the right was lobbed by WHINCOP, from the edge of the penalty area.
The Hull keeper was stood off of his goal line and was helpless with the ball dropping just under the bar.
An even game developed and then, out of the blue, Hull equalised in the 67th minute when a cross from their right caused a general free for all in the Rovers six-yard box before Sam O’CONNOR stabbed the ball over the goal-line.
Both sides went for a winning goal, with Ryan Fallowfield, for Hull shooting just wide and a free kick from Evan Finnegan being deflected for a corner.
As the last five minutes came up Jack Barlow, for the visitors had a twenty-five yard effort saved by Aaron Busby and at the other end a low cross by Mitchell Lund was hit first time by Billy Whitehouse but went just over the bar. Thus, a hard fought game ended all square.
Result – Doncaster Rovers Yth 1 Hull City Yth 1
Teams – Rovers – Aaron Busby; Mitchell Lund, Jacob Dawson, Harry Middleton, Jordan Binns, Scott Brown Lewis Ferguson, Josh Meade, Alex Peterson, Chris Whincop, Evan Finnegan
Subs used – Spencer Lund for Middleton 46 mins; Billy Whitehouse for Dawson 76 mins;
Subs not used – Ryan Burnyeat, Callum Terrell, Callum Myers gk
Hull City – Joe Cracknell; Sam Topliss, Tom Davie, Brad Ricketts, Ben Clappison, Max Clark, Ryan Fallowfield, Eoghan McCawl, Danny Chambers, Joel Sutton, Matty Dixon
Subs used - Sam O’Connor for Sutton 58 mins; Jack Barlow for Chambers 83 mins;
Subs not used – Niall Doran, Leon Dawson, Rory Watson gk