It’s a little bleak out at the moment but Rovers will be looking for the sun to shine on them this Easter weekend as we travel to Coventry on Friday.
The game kicks off a busy couple of weeks with a lot still to be decided in League One.
When the Sky Blues came to Doncaster earlier in the season they took the spoils and Brian Flynn and his men will be looking to serve revenge at a cold Ricoh Arena and repeat their last trip to the Midlands in the penultimate game of last season.
Rovers took the win in a game that confirmed their opponents would be dropping to the third tier a couple of weeks after Dean Saunders’ men had too been resigned to relegation against Portsmouth.
It was the team from South Yorkshire who piled on the pressure from the start and Joe Murphy had to be in top form to deny Simon Gillett who fired in a terrific shot from distance. The home side eventually got into the game as Gary McSheffrey was a threat but found a resilient Rovers defence hard to break down and with 30 minutes or so on the clock, George Friend was in the right place to clear Clive Platt’s header off the line as Coventry threw caution to the wind to try and get the win they needed to at least have a chance to stay in the Championship.
Gary Woods then denied Jordan Clarke who tried his luck from outside the box before Rovers were forced into a chance when Chris Brown went off injured to be replaced by James Hayter and City kept the tempo high but couldn’t make the breakthrough as the first half came to an end.
Going into the second period the home side continued in a similar vein, pressurising the Rovers defence who just couldn’t be breached. Cody McDonald lashed a shot against the post and McSheffrey fired over as frustration began to set in with the home supporters and players.
With ten minutes remaining the pendulum swung in favour of Rovers, Hayter wriggled through the Coventry defence but Richard Keogh brought him down when through, resulting in a red card for the City defender. Hayter dusted himself down before slotting home the spot kick and this killed the game as a contest as Rovers took firm control.
Gillett who had gone close on several occasions in the early throes of the first half managed to net the visitors second with a sweet strike from outside the area which gave Murphy no chance