Peterborough hand Rovers biggest defeat of the season.
Peterborough United 4 (Zakuani 9, Oztumer 36, Elder 47, Washington 74)
Doncaster Rovers 0
Saturday 24th October 2015
Abbax Stadium, London Road, Peterborough
Sky Bet League One
Doncaster Rovers suffered a miserable afternoon in League 1 as boss Darren Ferguson's former club Peterborough United ran out 4-0 winners at London Road.
Ferguson made two changes to his Rovers side from the midweek win at Shrewsbury Town with Luke McCullough and Andy Williams returning to the starting line-up in place of Keshi Anderson and Gary MacKenzie.
The home side began brightly and Souleymane Coulibaly had a good opportunity in the opening minutes, he forced Thorsten Stuckmann into a good save and from the re-bound attempted a bicycle kick that went just over the bar.
Erhun Oztumer was next to test the Rovers stopper with a great strike from the edge of the box, but the German refused to be beaten with a great diving save.
From the resulting corner however the hosts made the breakthrough, with defender Gabriel Zakuani heading home the set-piece inside nine minutes.
Coulibaly went close to doubling Peterborough's lead, he found space in the box before turning superbly and his powerful strike was denied only by the post as the home side continued their onslaught on the Rovers defence.
Andy Williams had Doncaster's best chance of the half, he was played through and shot from a narrow angle forcing Ben Alnwick into a good save, but it was a missed opportunity for Rovers with Nathan Tyson free in the middle unmarked.
Conor Washington and Coulibaly both had further opportunities to increase the lead for the hosts, but the greasy surface resulted in a loss of footing and weak efforts from the pair.
Peterborough did extend their lead deservedly in the 36th minute, Coulibaly held the ball up well in the Rovers area before teeing up Oztumer who fired home into the bottom right corner from the edge of the box.
Coulibaly had another chance before the break, he went through on goal, but his heavy touch allowed Stuckmann to make the save as Rovers went into the break lucky to be only two goals behind.
Half Time: Peterborough United 2-0 Doncaster Rovers
Aaron Taylor-Sinclair was introduced at half time, however was unable to prevent Peterborough from adding to their lead less than two minutes into the second half. Callum Elder struck powerfully from range, which Andy Butler blocked superbly with his head, however the re-bound fell right back to the Peterborough man and he calmly slotted into the bottom corner.
Butler had the chance to pull a goal back for Rovers just moments later, however his header from a Rovers corner was cleared from the Peterborough line.
Stuckmann was again on hand to keep the score-line respectable, doing well to keep out Jermiane Anderson's deflected effort.
Nathan Tyson came so close to scoring his first goal of the season, James Coppinger put a fine low ball into the box and the forward's dinked effort was denied only by the crossbar.
Coppinger himself then tested the Peterborough goalkeeper, the ball fell kindly to him on the edge of the box and the United stopper produced a fine save to deny Rovers.
However Peterborough made it four in the 74th minute when Coppinger lost possession 25 yards from goal, Washington pounced and smashed the ball into the bottom right corner.
Coulibaly had another chance to score for the hosts after great play by Lee Angol who played him through on goal, but the forward somehow missed the target.
Rovers substitute Harry Forrester struck a great free-kick late on heading for the top corner, but he was unable to beat Ben Alnwick, rounding off a miserable day for Doncaster as Rovers suffered their heaviest defeat of the season.
Full Time: Peterborough United 4-0 Doncaster Rovers
Peterborough: Alnwick, Zakuani (Smith 16), Taylor, Bostwick, Oztumer (Angol 74), Santos, Washington, Anderson (Fox 68), Coulibaly, Elder, Forrester.
Unused Subs: Henry, Smith, Vassell, Davey, Fox, Angol, Collison.
Cautions: Santos.
Rovers: Stuckmann, Lund, Evina, McCullough, Butler, Wellens (Middleton 54), Chaplow (Taylor-Sinclair 46), Williams (Forrester 56), Tyson, Coppinger, Stewart.
Unused Subs: Marosi, Forrester, N'Guessan, Keegan, Taylor-Sinclair, Middleton, Horsfield.
Cautions: Wellens, Lund, Butler.
Attendance: 6,092