Alfie Beestin marked his first start for Rovers with a goal as Rovers edged out Mansfield in the Checkatrade Trophy.
Mansfield Town 0
Doncaster Rovers 2
(Beestin 71, Calder 85)
One Call Stadium, Mansfield
Checkatrade Trophy
Alfie Beestin marked his first start for Rovers with a goal as Rovers edged out Mansfield in the Checkatrade Trophy.
Beestin, signed from Tadcaster Albion this summer, had a senior debut to remember as he fired home with 20 minutes to go. And Riccardo Calder completed the scoring in the final stages to ensure a comfortable win for Rovers.
Boss Darren Ferguson made a number of changes, with Beestin and Reece Fielding handed their first starts.
Both sides started with attacking intent, with an early and elaborate free-kick for Rovers seeing four players around the ball before Riccardo Calder's cross came to nothing.
The first real chance for Rovers came when debutant Beestin left several Stags players for dead, his neat pass inside found Calder but his drive across the area was just wide and too far ahead of any of his team-mates.
After an even opening period, the home sides had the best chance of the game after 21 minutes when a long ball found CJ Hamilton. He cut inside to carve out an angle, but his low shot.
Joe Wright picked up the first booking of the game after a late challenge on Danny Rose, which did nothing to hinder the home forward as moments after his rasping drive after cutting in from the left was inches away from giving the Stags the lead.
Rovers did clip the outside of a post with 33 minutes on the clock when Matty Blair broke down the right, his attempted cross clips a defender and is safe as it hits the woodwork and goes out for a corner.
The Stags had one final chance to break the deadlock before the break, with Kevan Hurst's free-kick into the area finding Rose but his header was wide.
HALF-TIME Mansfield 0 Rovers 0
Rovers were again solid after the restart, but chances were harder to come by. Mandeville created a great early chance when he beat a defender and pulled a low cross back to Williams, but George Taft got back just in time to nip it off the toes of the Rovers forward.
Williams was the creator again after 56 minutes as he got away from his man and tries to slide the ball across to Beestin. Again, though, a Stags defender intercepts.
Williams was right in the thick of the action and had the best chance of the game with just over an hour gone. Mandeville beat three men before playing a low ball which leaves Scott Shearer for dead, but Williams cannot connect despite throwing everything at it.
Lee Collins fired Mansfield's best chance over, but Etheridge was not forced into a save as he watched it go past the the bar.
Darren Ferguson made his first changes with 25 minutes to go, as Joe Pugh and Danny Amos came on in place of Williams and Blair.
There was no let up from Rovers, though, and Beestin marked his debut with the opening goal as he drilled home a low effort.
The points were wrapped up when Calder finished off a smart counter-attack. Rovers had four men racing forward from the half-way line, with Mandeville unselfishley puling back to allow Calder a tap-in when he could easily have had a shot himself.
FULL-TIME: Mansfield 0 Rovers 2
STARTING XI | Etheridge, Fielding, Wright, Evina, Blair (Amos 70), Calder, Houghton, Middleton, Beestin (Longbottom 90), Williams (Pugh 70), Mandeville. ROVERS SUBS | Marosi, Butler, Barker, James
BOOKINGS: Wright (21), Houghton (36)
STAGS XI | Shearer, Bennett, Pearce, Taft, Chapman, Baxendale (Hoban 53), Howkins (Collins 58), Hamilton, Hemmings, McGuire (Hurst 42), D.Rose. STAGS SUBS | Jensen, Benning, M.Rose, Hakeem
ATTENDANCE: 1,461 (337 away)