Doncaster Rovers

Doncaster started their pre-season with a 2-0 win away at local side Frickley Athletic before jetting off on their annual trip to Portugal, striker Nathan Tyson came off the bench to steal the headlines with two well worked goals in the second half which let Curtis Main off the hook for his first half penalty miss.

Rovers started the brighter of the two sides with Harry Forrester showing a clean pair of heels to the Frickley defenders but unfortunately for the wide midfielder his right-footed effort was well over the bar.

The home side had their chance to snatch the lead moments later, a long kick by goalkeeper Gibson was flicked on by Hornsey into the path of lurking forward Thompson who broke free of the shocked Doncaster defence, Thompson had little time to think as big German keeper Stuckmann came rushing towards him.

He chose to trip and chip him which turned out to be the wrong option as he saw his effort ripple the other side on the netting.

Rovers were unlucky not to open the scoring through Harry Middleton, the central midfielder who recently signed a two-year contract extension, dragged his left-footed grass cutter just past the right post via a pass from promising striker Jack McKay.

On the 35th minute Billy Whitehouse played a defence-splitting through ball to Curtis Main who initially did well to get past John Cyrus, the forward chopped back onto his right foot only to be took out by the sliding Cyrus he previously gave the slip.

Main pulled himself off the turf to step up and take the penalty himself, but his right- footed effort was too close to keeper Gibson who pulled off a relatively easy save down to his left. 

Frickley striker Reece Thompson was through on goal again after shaking off the threat of Liam Wakefield but his stinging shot was tipped round the post by Stuckmann.

Doncaster started the second half with a near-fresh team with Paul McKay and Billy Whitehouse the only two players to keep their place after the break, it was club legend James Coppinger who slotted a through ball to the onside Tyson who chopped back onto his left foot, but his effort narrowly missed the left post.

A sign of things to come.

Less than a minute later experienced central midfielder Richie Wellens nearly took the crossbar off, after some good work by the no12 shirted trialist, the ball fell nicely on the edge of the box for Wellens who unleashed a thunderous effort which smacked off the bar and back into play.

Rovers finally opened the scoring on the 60th minute, another delicious through ball from James Coppinger this time found youngster Paul McKay who squared the ball for Nathan Tyson who slotted the ball into the bottom right corner.

A mix-up in the defence set Tyson through on goal once again and talk about a striker with confidence, he clipped the ball over the head substitute goalkeeper Brad Riley.

Doncaster will be hoping to hit the ground running and get another valuable pre-season win against Sky Bet Championship side Nottingham Forest on the 21st of July at the Keepmoat.

  Frickley Starting XI: Gibson, Parkinson, Jeffs, Hornsley, Cyrus, Ible, Johnson, Lennighan, Thompson, Wood, Dockerty.

Subs: Riley, Leigh, Kay, Stannard, Gay, South, Wood, Williams, Stratford, Hinsley, Smith/Lewie

Rovers Starting XI: Stuckmann, Wakefield, MacKenzie, P.McKay, Evina, Whitehouse, Keegan, Middleton, Forrester, Main, J. McKay

Subs: Marosi, Trialist, McCullough, Butler, Lund, Coppinger, Wellens, Carberry, Mandeville, Tyson.