Doncaster demolish out of sorts Town

By Peegs
December 26 2003

Cheltenham fell to their second defeat under John Ward after being outclassed by promotion chasing Doncaster Rovers at Whaddon Road.

New signing Brian Wilson started at right with Dave Bird dropping to the bench. Other than that change it was the same team who knocked Leyton Orient out of the cup the previous Saturday.

With eleven minutes of the game played Doncaster took the lead. Bob Taylor back defending a corner foolishly hacked down Melligan in the box. Ex Hereford and Yeovil midfielder Michael McIndoe stepped up and cooly placed the ball in the bottom corner past Higgs.

The Robins showed good spirit however and hit back 9 minutes later with a simple goal. Martin Devaney swung over a corner from the In2Print side of the pitch, it arrived pin point to the forehead of Mark Yates who planted a header past Warrington in the Donnie goal from 6 yards to level the scores.

With Cheltenham fans still celebrating the equalising goal it took a last ditch desperate clearance from Stoke loanee Brian Wilson to deny Greg Blundell a goal. The ex Northwich man broke clear of the defence and lobbed the ball over the advancing Shane Higgs, with the ball bouncing towards the line Wilson hacked it clear with moments to spare.

However a goal would come moments later and it was hesitancy in the Cheltenham defence that was to blame. An in-swinging free kick from 40 yards by McIndoe was left by all in the Cheltenham defence, ex Oxford man David Morley had snuck in behind the back line and glanced a header past Higgs. John Ward would not have been happy with the Goalkeeper and defence as you do not want to be giving easy goals.

Cheltenham came close to equalising 5 minutes before half time with Grant McCann’s only moment of inspiration during the game. He powered a shot at goal from 20 yards that Warrington could only parry, however Damian Spencer couldn’t get to the rebound in time as a Doncaster player hacked the ball away.

H/T 1-2

Half time entertainment was supplied by little girls taking penalties at Steve Book, how the mighty have fallen, Millennium Stadium a year and a half ago to girls taking penalties at half time!

My money for the game was on a 2-2 draw so things were looking good for my bank balance. However 6 minutes into the second half my hopes of picking up winnings after the game were dashed when Doncaster extended their lead to 3-1. Mike Duff – who had a poor game – was caught out of position when a ball was played over the top of the back line. Jamie Melligan ran on to the ball and beat Higgs with a neat finish from 18 yards to send the large traveling contingent from Doncaster into raptures.

Brian Wilson tried an audacious Beckhamesque lob from near the half way line that had Warrington in the Doncaster goal scrambling back, however the ball drifted harmlessley wide.

John Ward sent on Kayode Odejayi on with quarter of an hour left and he had a brilliant chance to pull Cheltenham back into the contest. He got goal side of the defence and was clear through on goal, however he took far too long to shoot and the Doncaster man running back made a last ditch challenge to the disappointment of the home crowd.

The game ended and simply Cheltenham were just beaten by the better side on the afternoon.

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F/T 1-3

CHELTENHAM TOWN : Higgs, Wilson, M.Duff, Brough, Victory, Devaney, Yates (Bird 74), Finnigan, McCann (Brayson 85), Spencer, Taylor (Odejayi 66)

DONCASTER ROVERS : Warrington, Marples, Morley, Foster, Ryan, Melligan, Green (Rigoglioso 88), Ravenhill, McIndoe, Blundell (Hynes 84), Fortune-West

Attendance 3,884