DONCASTER ROVERS 0 YEOVIL TOWN 4

The live transmission of this game by Sky Sports meant that the kick-off of this match was delayed until 5.35pm. This late kick-off also meant that the results of other matches played in the afternoon had assured Rovers of a place in the play-off semi-finals, as Halifax Town had defeated Hereford United, the only other club that could statistically catch them. More importantly as far as history goes, it confirmed Yeovil Town as Conference champions, elevating them to the Football League for the first time in their history.
It may have been because a place in the play-offs were already secured, or was part of a pre-planned squad rotation, but boss Dave Penney elected to make several changes to his starting line-up. Simon Marples replaced Dave Morley at right back, Morley moved inside to a centre back position, and Tim Ryan moved across to the left back slot to replace Chris Beech, who was relegated to the substitutes bench. In midfield, Francis Tierney was given a place on the bench, with Paul Green playing wide right instead of his more usual central position, Ravenhill and Doolan occupying the central positions, with the right-footed Blunt on the left wing. Up front, Don Goodman was given his second start since joining the club, with Robert Gill missing out.

Yeovil kicked off in the first half defending the Rossington End of the ground, and won their first corner of the game after just three minutes, which Rovers duly cleared. A second followed within thirty seconds, although Warrington comfortably caught the ball as it came into the goalmouth. Rovers won a free kick in the fifth minute midway inside the Yeovil half when Blunt was brought down wide on the left. The kick, taken by Ryan, was floated into the box and was caught by Weale in the Yeovil goal. Yeovil’s first shot on goal came in the eighth minute, but McIndoe’s shot from outside the penalty area went well wide of target. A further to Yeovil chance came in the tenth minute as the visitors attacked with pace – Gall’s shot from the left side of the penalty area was fired across the face of goal and out for a goal kick. Rovers first attempt on goal came in the twelfth minute when Goodman tried a spectacular overhead kick around the Yeovil penalty spot, but his effort went over the bar. Another promising opportunity to Rovers came in the 17th minute that followed a free kick deep in Rovers territory by Warrington. The long ball was well flicked on by Goodman, who was winning everything in the air, into the path of Ravenhill. The ball unfortunately bounced a little too high for a telling shot to be fired, and the ball went out for a goal kick. Warrington had to be alert in the 19th minute to a cutting through-ball by Yeovil by coming speedily out of his goal to clutch the ball from the feet of Gall on the right side of the Rovers penalty area.
Yeovil were bossing the game around though, and it came as no surprise that they took the lead in the 23rd minute, although it took a catastrophic defensive blunder by Rovers to gift them the lead. A harmless ball into the centre led to confusion between the recalled Marples and keeper Warrington, leaving Way with the simple task of tapping the ball home from two yards to give Yeovil the lead.
Rovers tried to equalise straight from the kick-off by launching an attack down the left wing, but Blunt’s cross into the middle was way too long and high, and ended up in the mass of Yeovil fans behind the goal. Rovers won a free kick ten yards short of the penalty area as they tried to push forward in the 27th minute – the kick was blasted into the defensive mass of players by Doolan, and the ball harmlessly looped into the keepers arms. Another Yeovil attack in the 28th minute fortunately was fired straight at Warrington from the edge of the area as the visitors looked to increase their lead. Rovers were forced to make their first substitution of the game in the 29th minute with Goodman being replaced by Gill after picking up an ankle injury. Another chance fell to Rovers in the 32nd minute, with a free kick into the area being headed just wide by Steve Foster.
Worse was to follow in the 34th minute when Yeovil attacked with speed down the left, with Gall being brought down by Warrington as he entered the penalty area. The spot kick by McIndoe sent Warrington the wrong way, and the champions were 2-0 up. Yet another defensive blunder by Rovers came in the 41st minute. Yeovil mounted another attack down the left wing and crossed the ball into the centre. The ball fell to Morley, who tapped the ball back towards Warrington not much more than three yards from the goal line. Inexplicably, instead of booting the ball clear, Warrington decided to pick the ball up, with the referee rightly deeming it to be a back-pass. What followed next was pure farce. Whilst the Rovers players were milling around arguing the decision, a quick free kick from within the goal area was taken by Yeovil, with Lee Johnson slotting the ball into an unguarded net from two yards out. Rovers were struggling to impose any influence on the game, with Yeovil threatening to run riot as they celebrated their league title in style.

Rovers began proceedings in the second half in an attempt to make up a three-goal deficit, with Green charging straight through from the kick-off with the ball before being dispossessed by the mass ranks of the Yeovil defence five yards short of their penalty area. Both physios were called onto the pitch just two minutes after the restart after a Yeovil player went in hard on Andy Warrington, although both players quickly recovered. The Rovers players were certainly harassing the Yeovil players a great deal more in the early stages of the second half as they tried to disrupt the flow of the visitors’ game. Barnes almost got the ball through to Gill in the 48th minute, but the ball was nicked off Gill’s toes before he could shoot. Any hopes of clawing anything back from the game were dashed as Yeovil promptly took the ball straight down the other end of the pitch, with Gall turning Foster inside out, resulting in the Rovers defender losing his balance, before firing past a helpless Warrington fro 15 yards into the bottom right corner of the net. Rovers’ play was becoming increasingly disjointed, although their cause was not helped when a Yeovil handball was not penalised. Rovers won a corner in the 54th minute, with a powerful goal-bound header from Ryan being well tipped over the bar by Weale. From the next corner, another appeal for a handball was turned down, with the ball cannoning into several players as Yeovil struggled to clear. A cheeky attempt on goal by Yeovil then followed as Gall tried to chip Warrington from outside the penalty area as he latched onto a long clearance by Weale. An opportunity then came to Rovers in the 65th minute as a shot from Ryan on the left side of the pitch he the keeper diving at full stretch, but the attempt went fractionally wide of the left post. The introduction of Tristram Whitman in place of the ineffective Doolan certainly livened the Rovers attacking play up as he took up a place wide on the right. It took a very good save by the Yeovil keeper in the 67th minute to deny Ricky Ravenhill after Whitman had danced his way past two players out on the right wing before getting the cross in for Ravenhill to have his shot.

Rovers were only tending to have shots from range with Blunt had a 30-yard effort caught by the keeper in the 71st minute. Another clearance from the edge of his own area by Barnes found Whitman wide on the right. The Rovers substitute took off down the wing, leaving two defenders trailing in his wake, before eventually being dispossessed on the edge of the Yeovil area. Warrington saved further embarrassment nine minutes from time as another swift break out by Yeovil left their leading scorer Kirk Jackson in a one-on-one with Warrington. Warrington managed to save the ball with his feet as Jackson’s shot was fired from 16 yards. Another good run down the centre by Whitman after a further two minutes promised good things before he was outnumbered by Yeovil has he bore down on goal, and was dispossessed before he could get his shot in. Just as the fourth official was holding up the three added extra minutes board, Rovers won a lifeline as the troublesome and speedy Whitman was fouled as he attacked inside the penalty area with pace, and the referee had little hesitation in awarding Rovers a penalty. Weale, it the Yeovil goal, took a great deal of time in retreating to his line, before going through a fair proportion of the Barthez routine when facing a penalty. The gamesmanship certainly worked, for Barnes stepped up to take the spot kick, but a poor kick was saved by the keeper.
With the failure of the spot kick went the last chance of Rovers salvaging anything from the game, and Yeovil duly celebrated at the final whistle.

On this performance, you can certainly see why Yeovil are champions – a strong, well organised side who never gave up – they chased everything and always backed each other up.
Rovers played one of their poorest games of the season. The catalogue of three defensive mistakes effectively handed the game to Yeovil, although the situation did not appear to have been helped by the numerous personnel or positional changes that were made within the Rovers side. Let us hope that Dave Penney reverts to the side and formation that has served Rovers well so far this season for the remaining matches of the season. Rovers’ cause was not helped by the forced withdrawal of Goodman after half an hour of play, although hopefully the return to fitness of new signing Blundell will add a cutting edge to Rovers. Whitman impressed in the 20 minutes he had after coming on midway through the second half, and surely has staked a claim for a starting place next weekend.