A young Rovers side were beaten 4-0 by Sky Bet League Two side Chesterfield in their final pre-season game ahead of the new 2017/18 season.
The first chance of the game fell to the hosts, as some tricky footwork from Chris O’Grady saw him skip past Niall Mason before putting a ball into the box, however Andy Butler was there to clear the danger.
Chesterfield kept the pressure on Rovers early on and forced a spell of early corners, the best chance to take the lead came on the sixth minute, when a corner from the left was aimed towards Gozie Ugwu but his initial header went wide of the goal.
Gary Caldwell’s side were dominating attempts on goal in the first 15 minutes, albeit none of them having to work Marko Marosi in the Rovers goal, the next to chance his arm was Kristian Dennis, but once again the effort was poor and wide of the target.
Rovers did create an opening from a set-piece, a Gary McSheffrey corner found Andy Williams at the back post but his header was cleared away from danger by Ian Evatt.
Midfielder Louis Reed had the first shot on target of the game, letting fly from 25-yards, however Slovakian goalkeeper Marosi was on hand to claim the ball.
The hosts forced a fantastic one-handed save from Marosi just before the half hour mark, after some good interchanging passing, the ball fell to O’Grady who fired at goal, forcing Marosi to tip over the crossbar.
O’Grady was pulling the strings for the Spireites and his trickery once again saw him evade the Rovers defence before standing up a cross to the back post, but Ugwu missed the header and the chance came to nothing.
Six minutes before the end of the first half, Rovers were reduced to 10-men after forward Alfie May was sent off for dangerous play.
HALF TIME | Chesterfield 0-0 Doncaster Rovers
Darren Ferguson made three changes at the break with Tyler Garratt, Tyler Walker and Jacob Fletcher coming on and replacing Matty Blair, Niall Mason and Andy Butler respectively.
10 minutes after the half-time break Chesterfield took the lead, a cross from the right was headed down by Ugwu to Dennis whose initial shot rattled the post before his slotted the rebound under the body of Marosi.
Gary Caldwell’s side continue to pile on the pressure, which forced Marosi into another full-stretched save from Jordan Sinnott’s shot.
Chesterfield doubled their lead on the 71st minute, some good play by Dion Donohue saw him dance into the box before pulling the ball back to substitute Delial Brewster, who slotted the ball into the bottom right corner.
The hosts continued their pressure as the 11v10 situation continued to cause Ferguson’s men some trouble, this time Reece Mitchell decided to have a shot, but his effort flew well over Jones’ crossbar.
On the 83rd minute Chesterfield made it three, a through ball found Ugwu who lashed his effort past Jones’ to give the Sky Bet League Two side a comfortable lead heading into the final moments of the game.
The final action of the game came two minutes later when the hosts extended their lead even further through substitute Reece Mitchell, a cross from the right side was swept into the bottom left corner giving Jones no chance in the Rovers goal.
FULL TIME | Chesterfield 4-0 Doncaster Rovers