Following their upgrade to the Second Division, the Rovers made an encouraging start to the campaign with a 3-3 draw in the first game, at home to Burslem Port Vale. They built upon this with only one of the first five games being lost, although this was a heavy defeat at Middlesborough, who would eventually turn out to be one of the two promoted clubs along with West Bromwich Albion, who eventually took the championship.

In the early months of the season, the Rovers proved to be a real Jekyll and Hyde outfit, being invincible at home, whilst struggling to get any sort of positive result away from Belle Vue. Perhaps they were a little starstruck playing at Arsenal, Preston and elsewhere. A perfect example of this would be the period where they lost by six clear goals at Newton Heath - later to become Manchester United - only to beat WBA at Belle Vue less than a month later, this being one of only four defeats suffered by the 'Baggies' during the course of the season.

Five consecutive away fixtures in fourteen days over Christmas, 1901, provided just two draws, and the Rovers were well down the table as the New Year got underway, and whilst the only home game in January was won - as usual - the next two away games were lost and the Rovers were looking vulnerable.

However, the Rovers' excellent home form was to come to their rescue, with no fewer than ten of the last fourteen to be played at Belle Vue. Both Blackpool and Newton Heath had four goals put past them in February, before an excellent point was gained following a draw at WBA. Arsenal were also beaten on their first visit to Doncaster, whilst Glossop became only the second team to win here two days later.

This run of excellent results moved the team up the league to a position of respectability, and three consecutive home wins in the last fortnight of the season eased the Rovers into a final league position of seventh. Despite only one away victory, this was still a highly commendable performance from a club who had joined the higher grade with less than a week of notice. There was obviously a feeling of a job well done, and confidence was high that the team would go on to prosper. But there were further troubled times ahead for the Rovers as we shall see in due course.

The Rovers had yet to qualify for the FA Cup proper, and were knocked out at Lincoln City in the final qualifying round.

Leading scorers: Langham 11, Price 10
Division Two
1901-1902
 
P
W
D
L
F
A
Points
West Bromwich Albion
34
25
5
4
82
29
55
Middlesborough
34
23
5
6
90
24
51
Preston North End
34
18
6
10
71
32
42
Woolwich Arsenal
34
18
6
10
50
26
42
Lincoln City
34
14
13
7
45
35
41
Bristol City
34
17
6
11
52
35
40
DONCASTER ROVERS
34
13
8
13
49
58
34
Glossop North East
34
10
12
12
36
40
32
Burnley
34
10
10
14
41
45
30
Burton United
34
11
8
15
46
54
30
Barnsley
34
12
6
16
51
63
30
Burslem Port Vale
34
10
9
15
43
59
29
Blackpool
34
11
7
16
40
56
29
Leicester Fosse
34
12
5
17
38
56
29
Newton Heath
34
11
6
17
38
53
28
Chesterfield
34
11
6
17
47
68
28
Stockport County
34
8
7
19
36
72
23
Gainsborough
34
4
11
19
30
80
19

Back row: Dowson, Attree (trainer), Birch, Eggett, Marsh, Wright, Goodson, Simpson
Front row: Langham, Drake, Price, Murphey, Bailey