The Sporting Hack

Chesterfield 5-2 Doncaster Rovers Grant McCann didn’t flinch.  His side are 3-1 behind in a local derby with less than an hour played.  The game is not drifting away from Doncaster, it’s galloping towards the sunset.  Hesitancy proved the visitors undoing with the first concession as keeper Ted Sharman-Lowe came out, retreated and slipped. Bim Pepple then doubled the advantage and the task at hand.  Rovers have not won a league game this season in which they’ve conceded the first goal.  Despite Luke Molyneux’s strike just before half time which had got them back in the game, it is the manager’s turn to throw caution to the wind, after Chesterfield’s third via the pint-sized Olakigbe. Reminiscent of the Guinness surfing advert of yesteryear ; “He waits...tick followed tock followed tick...”  There is no sense of animation, no panic, no troops being readied for action. Where are the calls for reinforcements or the change in approach? Where are the squad playe...

Doncaster Rovers 1-3 Middlesbrough Npower Championship Keepmoat Stadium Att: 9792 The tragic loss of Doncaster striker Billy Sharp’s two day old son invariably dominated proceedings and occupied the thoughts of everyone through the evening. The game itself was settled by Scottish midfielder Barry Robson, whose double lifted Middlesbrough to third and ensured Doncaster sank to the foot of the Championship. Amid a backdrop of boos for Doncaster’s latest recruit El Hadji Diouf from Boro fans, there was a united and sympathetic approach to Sharp’s situation, with both sets of supporters admiring and applauding his bravery for even playing. It was perhaps fitting that after 14 minutes, Sharp (above) scored the first – and arguably best goal of the night - a left footed volley which flew over Jason Steele and prompted the goalscorer to display a printed message on a t-shirt which poignantly read: “THAT’S FOR YOU, SON.” Middlesbrough showed their resilience however, and prov...