DONCASTER ROVERS 1 CHESTER CITY 1

At last, the long waiting game was over. For almost three weeks Rovers knew for sure they were in the play-offs, and it was more a matter of where within the four places they finished. Since Rovers were barred from playing at home in the second leg, due to horse racing taking part at Doncaster Racecourse, there was not even that incentive to finish in second or third place. Dave Penney had taken the opportunity to fully utilise his first team squad, both to give match practice to some players, whilst resting others.
At stake for the winners of this two-legged semi-final is a place in the final at Stoke City’s Britannia Stadium against the winners of the Morecambe v Dagenham semi-final – with the winners of the final winning a place in Division Three next season.
When it came to announcing the team, Dave Penney stuck by the same starting eleven that played in the last League game at Hereford, apart from Jamie Paterson replacing Francis Tierney. This meant that new signing Gregg Blundell had to settle for a place on the bench again, as he was gradually introduced as he recovers from a hamstring injury.

Chester kicked off in the first half, defending the Rossington end of the ground. A promising early move down the right was started by Jamie Paterson, who forged forwards with a lay-off back to Whitman when he came under pressure. The ball worked its way to Marples, but the final cross was too deep, and Watson at the far post could not control the ball before it went out of play. It was again down the right in the sixth minute that the next Rovers attack came, with a ball slotted down the right touchline by Marples found its way to Whitman, with the goalkeeper having to be alert to come out of his area and boot the ball into the car park. Former Rovers defender Kevin McIntyre, who left Rovers in controversial circumstances last summer, had the crowd baying for his blood in the ninth minute when he fouled Simon Marples, who was left on the ground requiring treatment. The referee decided to do no more than award a free kick – the momentum of Marples’ run made the challenge look worse than it was. The first corner of the game went to the visitors in the 14th minute.
Rovers’ next opportunity came in the 16th minute when a bustling run by Paterson was ended by him being brought down by McIntyre parallel with the edge of the Chester area. The kick was taken quickly by Paterson in an attempt to catch the defence out, but the keeper was alert and caught the ball on his line. By this time in the game, Rovers were struggling to keep an influence on the game, and Chester were spending the majority of the time in the Rovers half, and were winning a number of corner kicks as they kept the pressure on the Rovers defence. It took until the 35th minute for the next realistic chance came to Rovers, and was as a result of a “route one” ball from Andy Warrington, which was flicked on by Paul Barnes, with the lively Tristram Whitman, the only Rovers player that looked as if he could find some space for Rovers, using his pace well to latch on to the ball, but Wayne Brown, the Chester keeper, was alert and snatched the ball off Whitman’s toes as he was about to shoot. Disaster struck for Rovers following a free kick awarded to them wide on the right midway inside the Rovers half. The ball was floated into the centre, where McIntyre slammed the ball home from around the penalty spot to give Chester the lead. The acrimonious relationship between McIntyre and the crowd was not helped when, as part of his goal celebrations, he came over to the fans on the Popular Stand side and taunted the crowd with his gestures.

A stunned Rovers side worked their way back into the game by trying to get a quick equaliser, and in the 40th minute they should have been back on level terms. A cross from Chris Beech found Ravenhill on the edge of the area, whose volley smacked against the Chester cross bar, the power of the shot bringing the ball back into play on the far edge of the pitch. Rovers kept up the pressure for the rest of the first half, with Whitman pulling a shot from the left edge of the area wide of the left post two minutes later, after he had done well to ghost past three Chester defenders.
So ended a scrappy first half, with Chester having the majority of possession, with the Rovers attack rarely having an opportunity to put pressure on the visitors’ goal, with the midfield being conspicuous, Paterson excepted, by its absence. Chester, on the other hand, proved throughout the entire match, were proving themselves to be the masters of wasting time, taking the maximum possible time to take throw-ins, free kicks and goal kicks.

Rovers kicked off for the second half with the hope of pulling back the one goal deficit and won a free kick in the first minute of play after the lively Whitman had been clattered to the ground wide on the right. The free kick went to Paterson, who had to jink this way and that as he tried to get around the Chester defenders, the final cross from Doolan being caught by the Chester keeper. Rovers won their first corner of the half in the 50th minute, but the height of the Chester defence meant that the corner kick was comfortably dealt with, as they had done with all aerial attacks by Rovers. A patient Rovers move in the 56th minute saw Chester hold their ground on the edge of the area, with the ball being worked sideways to Doolan who launched a shot high and wide from 20 yards. An enthusiastic response greeted the 61st minute replacement of John Doolan and Andy Watson, who had both failed to impose their influence on the Rovers midfield, with Paul Green and Gregg Blundell (who was making his first appearance at Belle Vue), with Whitman moving from a strikers’ role to a play wide on the left of midfield. The presence of Whitman in a wide position almost provided the break-through for Rovers in the 67th minute was started by a long ball out of defence down the right. The ball reached Whitman on the edge of the right side of the Chester area with the final ball in being headed wide by Paul Barnes – one of the few chances he was to get in the game.

Rovers boss Dave Penney had warned his side against being forced into the “route one” style of football. However, it was exactly that which almost produced the equaliser in the 71st minute. A punt upfield by Warrington was flicked on by Barnes, with Whitman failing to make contact with the final ball by a matter of inches, and a grateful keeper snatched the ball off his toes.
Rovers were finally managing to exert some pressure on the Chester defence as they approached the final quarter hour of the game, and a useful looping cross in from the right being challenged for by Blundell and Green, with Chester heading the ball out from almost under their own crossbar to safety. Rovers made a further substitution in the 84th minute, with Morley replacing Foster, as they vainly hoped to grab an equaliser that they had rarely looked like getting or deserving. The way back into the game was perhaps contributed to by the referee. The 85th minute saw Mark Quayle bringing down Jamie Paterson in full flight down the right touchline, with the referee having absolutely no hesitation in sending the Chester player off – barely two minutes after he had been introduced as a substitute for Sugden. The resulting free kick was overhit, and flew out for a goal kick. Still Rovers tried to equalise, and continually they could not get past a big Chester defence.

The drama of the game was saved until deep into added-on time. The ball came in from the right hand side, with Chester again holding their ground on the edge of the penalty area. This time, though, the ball came right across to the left side of the penalty area, where Whitman, who had found himself a little space, had little hesitation in crashing the ball home from 20 yards past a diving Brown to give Rovers an equaliser. No surprise, then, that both the crowd and players celebrated in style, with Rovers suddenly having a much better chance of reaching the Stoke final than they probably deserved.

The goal proved to be virtually the last kick of the game – and the Rovers fans went home happy, with their reactions making you believe that they had probably won the match, rather than having merely equalised. Rovers now have a few days before the return leg at the Deva Stadium, during which time they will have to decide on how to combat their opponents. The Rovers midfield unit failed to function, with Jamie Paterson being perhaps the exception, with the strikers having almost nothing to work on. It did seem that Chester were more vulnerable to Rovers running at pace at them – with Whitman, Marples and Paterson causing them the most trouble.
The tie is merely half way through – let’s hope that Rovers manage to address these matters so that we can all look forward to a day out in Stoke a week on Saturday!