Paul Dickov's men loose out to Lincoln City in a pre season friendly.
Lincoln City 2 - 0 Doncaster RoversBurrow- 56’
Power- 81’
Saturday 12th July
Sincil Bank Stadium
John Reames Memorial Trophy
Kick Off 15:00
The first half was a fairly even contest in which the hosts had the better chances. Ben Tomlinson proved to be a threat down the left hand side for The Imps causing right back Mitchell Lund some trouble.
With Lincoln seeing a lot of the ball in the opening 15 minutes, Rovers suffered an early scare when James Coppinger had to clear the ball off the line.
Rovers did have a couple of chances through midfielder James Bailey who tried his luck from range on more than one occasion, but unfortunately could not test the Lincoln keeper.
Lincoln’s front men tested the Rovers defence with regular attacks down the left and right wing, but lacked the final product to take the lead.
There were promising signs for Doncaster Rovers as Harry Forrester returned to action getting 45 minutes under his belt. Forrester looked lively on the ball and some good interplay between him and Keegan set up trialist James Bailey but it was an easy save for the Lincoln goalkeeper.
There were glimpses for Rovers who grew into the first half but there wasn’t much to go on as neither side looked to get going. The teams went into the dressing rooms at 0-0.
The second half saw a different Rovers 11 with new trialists Jamie Ashdown, Cedric Evina and Nathan Tyson all featuring.
The hosts started the half strong and on 56 minutes Jordan Burrow headed in a cross from the right wing to put the home side in front.
It was a very quiet second half with neither keeper having much to do until 80 minutes when Lincoln’s Jake Caprice fired a shot with the outside of his boot at the Rovers goal, resulting in a fantastic save from Rovers Jamie Ashdown.
Just a minute later Lincoln’s Alan Power found some space, shooting from 20 yards leaving Ashdown with no chance at all.
The Imps led 2-0.
Some of the Rovers trialists may take some time to settle into the squad but there were promising signs from James Bailey in midfield and Elliot Kebbie down the left wing.
The visitors never really got going in the second half and didn’t see enough of the ball to make an impact.
The hosts looked lively throughout the match and deserved their victory.
Paul Dickov’s men won’t be too dishearten by the result, a good run out for them as they head to Portugal on Sunday to continue their pre season training.
Lincoln City: Paul Farman, Tom Miller, Sean Newton, Tony Diagne, Arnaud Mendy, Todd Jordan, Alan Power, Conner Robinson, Jordan Burrow, Ben Tomlinson.
Subs- Luke Chambers, Hamza Bencherif, Jake Caprice, Alex Simmons, Kegan Everington, Jordan Harper.
Doncaster Rovers: First Half- Ben Williams, Mitchell Lund, Luke McCullough, Peter Clarke, James Husband, Paul Keegan, James Bailey, James Coppinger, Lewis Ferguson, Harry Forrester, Theo Robinson.
Second Half- Jamie Ashdown, Harry Middleton, Ben Askins, Liam Wakefield, Cedric Evina, Dean Furman, Marc De Val Fernandez, Elliot Kebbie, Richie Wellens, Nathan Tyson, Alex Peterson.