Rovers brought Southend's sequence of eight straight victories to an end this afternoon as they defeated the League One leaders with two superb goals - the first another wonder-strike from Ravenhill (this time a left-footed volley from 22 yards), and the second from Jonathan Forte after he outpaced the United defence before firing home past the goalkeeper.
A thoroughly entertaining first half saw both sides evenly matched, and although there were plenty of goal scoring chances to both sides, some determined, and at times last ditch defending blocked all potentially on target shots, with neither keeper having a serious save to make.The match saw a return to the starting eleven of right back Simon Marples, and he made a very assured performance, with very little getting past him down the Rovers right. More concerning was the substitution of left back Sean McDaid, who was replaced after receiving treatment for two separate blows, by the looks of it to the head, late in the second half.
With the tightly packed League One table, the win takes Rovers up four places in the table to thirteenth - only three points off the play-off places, but equally only five points ahead of 23rd placed Tranmere Rovers.
The "Man of the match" voting is now open. Click on the logo to the left if you would like to take part.

Doncaster Rovers will welcome midfielder Ricky Ravenhill back into the side for this afternoon's home game against Southend United after completing a one match suspension, and he looks set to resume his central midfield partnership with Paul Green. Stephen Roberts is available for selection after recovering from a calf injury, but may have to settle for a place on the bench. Lewis Guy and Sean Thornton both went down with flu during the week, although both are on antibiotics, and should be available this afternoon.
Tonny Nielsen is also fit after a lengthy absence, but we suspect will need more reserve team games before being drafted into the first team squad.
Jermaine McSporran is recovering well, but realistically will not make a playing return until the New Year. Tim Ryan will continue to be absent with an Achilles tendon which is taking time to diagnose.

Southend United, who went to the top of the League One table after an eight straight win last weekend, are not expected to make many changes to their side this afternoon, although defender Spencer Prior is struggling with a hamstring injury. Striker Freddy Eastwood, who scored the winning goal against Nottingham Forest, may have to settle for a place on the substitutes bench as boss Steve Tilson hopes to name an unchanged team.

The Supporters Club are running coaches to next weekend's away game at Walsall. Coaches will leave as follows:
Retford 10.00am, Bawtry 10.15am, Hare & Tortoise 10.20am, Punches 10.25am, Doncaster Royal Infirmary 10.30am, Belle Vue 10.45am
The North Doncaster bus will leave Carcroft Club: 9.30am, Bentley Pavillion: 9.40am, Don Valley (Jossey Lane): 9.50am, Woodlands (opp Cooplands): 10.00am
The fares for all coaches will be:
Members: £9.00, OAP’s: £8.00, U16’s: £7.00
Non-members: £11.00, U16’s: £8.00
To book a place on the coach, please contact Len South (01302 817347), Paul Mayfield on (01427 880154 or 077404 53066) or Warren Hanson (North Doncaster) on 01302 337303 or 07787 926809.

The youth team are in action this morning, and have an away match at Scunthorpe United. The match kicks off at 11am.

Dave Penney has set his sights on going on another five-match unbeaten run - starting with Saturday's home game against Southend United. He said: "Going five matches unbeaten helped moved us up the table and we need to go on another one now - starting against Southend. They're a strong side who like to get the ball down and play but we're improving all the time and will be going all out to win the game."
A 2-1 defeat at Bournemouth last weekend spoiled Rovers' recent sequence, and with so many teams separated by only a few points - only four points separate 7th placed Chesterfield from 23rd placed Gillingham - he is keen to continue picking up the points.

Former Rovers striker Gregg Blundell was carried off on a stretcher after being fitted with a neck brace after a collision with Rochdale goalkeeper Matthew Gilks in the opening minutes of Chester City's game last Friday. Early fears that Gregg had suffered concussion and a broken cheekbone have since been allayed, but earlier this week, he was still described as being "very groggy". He spent a couple of nights in hospital following the injury, but has now been allowed home.
We wish Gregg a speedy recovery to full fitness.

We understand that Rovers winger James Coppinger played in an Exeter City shirt for a testimonial match on Tuesday night. Unfortunately we don't know any further details at the moment.

Rovers goalkeeper Andy Warrington returned to the training ground at Cantley Park earlier this week in the early stages of his recovery from a broken leg. It now appears that a playing return will be much later in the season than was originally indicated by the club - Warrington has been set a target of next Easter for a return to playing, although he will inevitably have to make a number of reserve team appearances to regain match fitness. Warrington ways that realistically he is looking at next summer's pre-season for a full return.
Warrington had a steel pin in his shin bone to strengthen the bone as it heals, but will have to have another operation to remove the pin at some stage in the future.

Young Doncaster Rovers striker Ben Saunders has joined Worksop Town on a one month loan, and goes straight into their squad for Saturday's Conference North game against Hucknall Town.
Ben joined Rovers from Southwell City in the summer, but has not featured for the first team so far this season.

Dave Mulligan is eagerly looking forward to Saturday's game at Belle Vue when the League One leaders Southend United will be the visitors. With Rovers already having beaten top six sides Swansea City and Scunthorpe United this season, Mulligan believes that Rovers will raise their game on Saturday to end Southend's club record eight match winning run. Should Rovers do that, then Shrimpers manager Steve Tilson will be checking into the barbers on Monday - he's pledged not to get his hair cut until United's winning run comes to an end.
Mulligan said of Saturday's game:"It is good to be playing the top of the league because whenever we have played one of the top sides this season we have raised our game and played well. Hopefully that will be the case on Saturday because we can't afford to let the top three get further way from us."

The North Doncaster Branch of the Rovers Supporters Club are running a coach to the away game at Barnsley next Tuesday (18th October) in the LDV Vans Trophy. The fare will be £5 each for everyone, with no different rates for members and non-members. If you would like to book a place on the coach, ring Warren Hanson on 01302 337303 or 07787 926809.
The coach will leave Carcroft Club 5.45pm, Bentley Pavillion 5.55pm, Don Valley School 6.00pm, Woodlands (Opposite Cooplands) 6.10pm, and is expected to arrive in Barnsley about 6.45pm.
Gate admission for the game is only £10 for adults and £5 for under-16's.

Rovers manager, Dave Penney, thinks that Saturday's game against Southend United is the ideal opportunity to get back on the winning track after Rovers' disappointing performance last Friday night. Southend have just set a club record of eight successive victories to go top of the League One table, but Penney insists that Rovers can win the game.
He said: "Steve Tilson has done a fantastic job at Southend, taking them two consecutive LDV Vans Trophy finals and winning promotion last season. They're a good side who play decent football but apart from the Bournemouth result, we've been on a good run ourselves and we'll be confident of getting back on track against Southend."

Striker Neil Roberts has resumed training after missing Friday's game at Bournemouth with illness. Younger brother, Stephen, has also resumed training after missing the last few matches with a calf injury, and will be a welcome addition to the Rovers defence, which has conceded two goals a game since his absence.
Also returning to training is midfielder Sean Thornton, who has recently had an ankle operation, but he will not be considered for Saturday's game as he has to work on his fitness before he will be considered.

The Salutation Inn are launching a new beer, "Belle Vue Glory" on Thursday evening at 8pm, which follows in the footsteps of "Rovers Revenge", which was launched earlier in the season. 20p of every pint sold will be donated to Doncaster Rovers.

Despite a stuttering start to the season, the great improvement in recent results has convinced Rovers assistant manager Mickey Walker that Rovers can still make the play-off places. With many clubs closely bunched together, another winning run would see Rovers rise further up the table. Walker confirmed that Rovers' target is promotion to the Championship next summer, saying: "We have shown in recent weeks what we're are capable of and the target this season is to finish higher than we did last year - and that means getting into the play-offs."

Doncaster Rovers' youth team continued their recent good performances and good results by registering another good win at the weekend. Rovers defeated their youth team counterparts from Darlington by a 4-1 scoreline, with Liam Green, Adam Brown and Craig Nelthorpe scoring for Rovers after their first goal had been scored with a Craig Nelthorpe cross being turned into the net by a Darlington defender. Rovers went in 4-0 up at the interval, but unfortunately a poor performance in the second half led to no more goals being scored, with Darlington scoring from a free kick in what turned out to be the last kick of the game.
Youth team manager Paul Wilson said:"We had done very well up to half time with a great performance by all the team, but we were slightly disappointed with the performance in the second half which saw Darlington score with the last kick of the game from a free kick.
The Rovers side: Lee Cockerham, Nathan Ireland, Gerard Alonso, Liam Green, Robert Pacey (c), Adam Green, Adam Brown, Andy Matthews, Luke Blythway, Adam Lee, Craig Nelthorpe
Subtitutes: Aaron Brittain, Jason Flint, Craig Sutton, Henry Leon, Tom Fleming.

With a long journey to and from Bournemouth on Friday night for Rovers fans to contend with, it is perhaps not surprising that the level of voting for the "Man of the Match" was lower than of late. However, we thank everyone who took the trouble to go to the match, and to vote - we received a proportionately higher vote when compared to the 365 fans who travelled than we have for many matches this season.,
With many of the votes evenly spread, only two players really edged ahead of the pack. Nine Rovers players received nominations, with the leading being:
1 Paul Heffernan (40.74%)
2 Dave Mulligan (14.81%)
The next vote will open on Saturday evening following Rovers' home game against table-topping Southend United.

Rovers goalkeeper Andy Warrington will report to the Rovers' training ground at Cantley Park this morning for the first time since his operation last Tuesday, which will speed his return to action. Warrington is already walking and excercising, and is hoping to be back in the first team within four months.

The Viking Supporters' Co-operative have reported that they collected £61.79 for their "Coin Trail" at Friday evening's game at Bournemouth. This means the new "Coin Trail" total is £37,753.17.

Whilst you can pay at the turnstiles for all the terracing areas for the Carling Cup game against Gillingham on Tuesday, 25th October, you can buy tickets for the game from the Rovers ticket office or on-line via the official web site. They will go on general sale this morning, and the prices are:
Seating: Adults £15.00, Concessions £8.00
Terracing: Adults £10.00, Concessions £3.00

Rovers manager Dave Penney criticized his team's lack of defensive composure after they conceded two late goals at Dean Court on Friday evening, when a victory could have seen them rise to just outside the play-off places. Although Rovers took an early lead with a Paul Heffernan goal, Penney thought that they should have punished the home side more in the first half when Rovers dominated the play.
He said:"We made a good start and looked good for the first 20 minutes, but once we scored we started to slacken off. We conceded two bad goals. Bournemouth are a good footballing side so to concede two goals where the ball was just thrown into the penalty area is very disappointing. For the first goal our right-back was by the touchline when he should have been defending the far post. For the second, we gave the ball away too much and we can't afford to do that at places like Bournemouth. We've been on a good run but you can't play well every week."

With fewer matches than usual this weekend owing to a combination of the various international matches, and the Third Qualifying Round of the FA Cup, there are only a few former Rovers players to have put their names on the score sheet this week.
In League Two, Ritchie Barker scored Mansfield Town's third goal as they hammered Shrewsbury Town 4-0 at Field Mill.
In the FA Cup matches, Robert Gill rescued Hucknall Town from an embarrassing home defeat against Cammell Laird by scoring Hucknall's equaliser 20 minutes from time. Ex-Rovers midfielder Jason Blunt scored Alfreton Town's second goal in the sixth minute of their home tie against Whitby Town. Alfreton eventually won 2-1.

Thank you to everyone who has visited this web site during the past twelve months. Thanks to you, the number of visitors to the site continues to grow, which, and we had almost 266,000 separate visitors to the site during the past twelve months. That means that an average of over 22,000 separate visits to the site have been made each month, with a peak of over 25,000 earlier this season. Between you, you have looked at over one and a half million pages during the last year!

The Rovers' youth team are at home to Darlington in a Youth Alliance fixture this morning. The match, which kicks off at 11am, will be played at Cantley Park.

The Doncaster Rovers Belles' unbeaten run came to an end in their midweek game at Everton, with the home side going ahead after just three minutes. Pauline Hamill equalised for Doncaster a minute later, but Everton's lead was restored within sixty seconds. Everton's third goal came in the 18th minute from a well worked free kick. Despite the flurry of goals in the opening quarter of the match, no further goals were scored, although Rovers Belles forced their way back into the game in the second half without being able to reduce the arrears. The victory takes Everton three points clear at the top of the Nationwide Women's Premier League.

The Rovers' Supporters Club will be running coaches to the next away game at Walsall on Saturday, 22nd October. Coaches will leave from Retford at 10.00am, Bawtry 10.15am, Hare & Tortoise 10.20am, Punches 10.25am, Doncaster Royal Infirmary 10.30am, Belle Vue 10.45am.
The North Doncaster Branch coaches leave from Carcroft Club: 9.30am, Bentley Pavillion: 9.40am, Don Valley (Jossey Lane): 9.50am,
Woodlands (opp Cooplands): 10.00am
The fares are: Members £9.00, OAP's £8.00, U16's £7.00
Non-members £11.00, U16's £8.00
To book a ticket, or for further information, please contact Len South (01302 817347), Paul Mayfield (01427 880154 or 077404 53066) or Warren Hanson (01302 337303 or 07787 926809).
Admission prices for the game are: Adults £18, OAP's£12, U-16's £12, Students £18
There is a £2 discount for all tickets bought before the game, although Walsall charge a 50p credit card charge for buying tickets over the telephone, and a £1 administration charge if tickets are posted out.
Their ticket office telephone number is 0870 4420111 and 0870 4420222, but it appears that there are no facilities for buying ticket on-line.

Rovers were denied any points at the very end of this game after soaking up pressure from Bournemouth for virtually the whole of the second half. Rovers had taken the lead in the first five minutes of the game through Paul Heffernan, and really ought to have extended their lead after having the better of the first half. However, Bournemouth made several tactical changes after the break, which resulted in them gaining much more possession, and forcing Rovers onto the back foot for long periods. Rovers finally conceded a goal with just nine minutes to go - and a second was conceded with just thirty seconds to go.
The "Man of the Match" voting is now closed, and the result will be announced on Tuesday morning.

Doncaster Rovers are likely to make only a small number of changes to the side that drew 2-2 against Bradford City last weekend, with David Mulligan replacing the suspended Ricky Ravenhill in midfield. Apart from that, the only change is likely to be up front, where Jonathan Forte has completed a one-match suspension after being sent off against Swindon, and is available for selection. Adam Hughes is likely to be added to the Rovers squad for this evening's game.
Definitely missing the game will be Steve Roberts, Tim Ryan and Sean Thornton, who all continue to recover on schedule from calf, achilles and ankle injuries respectively, along with longer term casualties Andy Warrington, Jermaine McSporran and Tim Ryan. Goalkeeper Tonny Nielsen played in the reserves on Tuesday, but needs more reserve team matches before he will be considered for the first team.

Bournemouth are set to name an unchanged squad for this evening's home match against Doncaster Rovers at Dean Court, meaning they are still without a number of players due to injury. Steve Fletcher, Stephen Purches, James Rowe and Jason Tindall are all reported to be close to returning to taining, with Karl Broadhurst, Neil Moss, Eddie Howe and Warren Cummings not likely to resume training for another two weeks.
A tight game is in prospect, with Bournemouth only one point behind Rovers, with Rovers having the possibility of ending the day in sixth place, although a number of clubs will be playing over the weekend, due to the varied kick-offs caused by England's match tomorrow afternoon.

Andy Warrington will not return to the training ground at Cantley until Monday after being advised by hissurgeon that he could not travel until Thursday. However, the indications are that the operation was a complete success, and he will be ready for a return to action by the end of the year.

The Rovers' Football in the Community are offering supporters a chance to have a guided tour around Belle Vue, which includes many behind the scenes places that fans may not have seen before. Groups of between ten and twenty people will be shown round the stadium at a time, with the tours costing £2 for adults and £1 for children (aged 16 and under).
If you would like to book a place, please contact Richard Bailey on 01302 370250.

Rovers' assistant manager, Mickey Walker, has said that Rovers are now beginning to show their true colours as their suddenly improved form has propelled them up the league table. An opening run of just one win in the first eight games has now been replaced by one of being unbeaten in five games. Walker said: "There wasn't an awful lot wrong in the first place. People forget that the margin of success and failure - and drawing and winning - is often very thin. But we have improved hugely in recent weeks and are now showing our true colour. We just want to keep this run going because if you can win a few games on the bounce then it can make a real difference."

Former Doncaster Rovers central defender Gary Finley has left UniBond Premier League club Witton Albion "by mutual consent" after spending just under a year as their manager. Finley played for Rovers six times during the 1997/98 season, and has also played for Marine, Warrington Town, Vauxhall Town, Curzon Ashton, Netherfield, Hyde United, Conwy United and Aberystwyth Town - who he guided to the Inter-Toto Cup after joining them in 1999/2000.

The Doncaster Rovers v Southend United match on Saturday, 15th October will not be all-ticket, but as usual, tickets for the seated areas of the main stand will be available in advance.
Admission prices for the game are:
Seating: Adults £18.00, Concessions £12.00
Terracing: Adults £15.00, Concessions £8.00

The greatly improved form of the Doncaster Rovers Belles this season continued earlier this week with news that their "development team" has registered another healthy victory in the Sheffield & Hallamshire County League. They recorded a 6-0 away win over Brinsworth Ladies, with the Rovers Belles goals coming from Jess Dunn (2) , Gemma Metcalfe, Reagan Fahy (2) and Natalie Ostcliffe.

Doncaster Rovers put out a strong reserve team last night and deservedly came out as clear winners by the end of the game. Rovers took the lead in the 28th minute when Lewis Guy was brought down in the penalty area, with Uros Predic slitting home the spot kick. The second came two minutes after the break, when Adam Hughes chipped the Darlington goalkeeper from 25 yards. The third came a little over an hour into the game as Lewis Guy headed home an Adam Hughes cross, and finally Ben Saunders side-footed the ball into the net from close range seven minutess later when completely unmarked.
The Rovers side for the game was: Tonny Nielsen, Simon Marples, Adam Green, Steve Foster, Dave Mulligan, Lewis Guy, Uros Predic, Adam Hughes, Richard Offiong, Jonathan Forte, Ben Saunders
Substitutes: Gerard Alonso (for Guy, 64), Adam Brown (for Forte, 75), Nathan Ireland (for Foster, 79), Anthony Griffith, Lee Cockerham

Andy Warrington went for corrective surgery yesterday morning, in which he had a nail inserted into his bone in a procedure which involved feeding the nail into his bone through the knee joint and fed down to the fracture. The operation, which went according to plan, took two and a half hours, and means that Warrington will be able to start back at the training ground on the first stages of his recovery on Thursday. It is anticipated that Andy will be challenging for a return to the team in around four months.

Former Doncaster Rovers striker Micky Norbury has signed for UniBond First Division side Goole AFC from Belper Town after agreeing terms. An "old fashioned centre forward", Norbury has also played for Cambridge United, Preston North End, Gainsborough Trinity, Gateshead, Matlock Town, Ossett Albion, Belper, Stafford Rangers, Halifax Town, Scarborough, Bridlington, Telford United and Hednesford Town.

The Supporters Club are running coaches to Friday's game at Bournemouth, which depart from Retford at 12.00 noon, Bawtry 12.15pm, Hare & Tortoise 12.20pm, Punches 12.25pm, Infirmary 12.45pm and Belle Vue 12.30pm.
The cost will be:
Members: £20.00, OAP's £18.00, U16's £16.00
Non-members £22.00, U16's £18.00
To book or for further information, please contact Len South (01302 817347) or Paul Mayfield (01427 880154 or 077404 53066)
Tickets for the game can be bought in advance on the Bournemouth web site, or on the day from Dean Court.

Sean Thornton was the victim of some misleading reporting in the Daily Mirror earlier this week, when he was pictured in a bar in Sunderland. It turns out that the photograph was taken at Sunderland's promotion party in April, and not recently as the Mirror article inferred.

Rovers goalkeeper Andy Warrington is expected to be back in action in three or four months due to a new surgery technique which he will undergo in Norwich today. A pin will be placed in his leg which will aid the bone knitting together, and reduce the time before he can start training. Due to this technique, Andy's leg will not be placed in plaster, enabling him to resume some training within two or three weeks.
Barrie Windle, the Rovers physio, said: "He'll be travelling down to Norwich and having the operation on Tuesday. He's being seen by the best in the business. He won't have a plaster cast put on - which will enable us to start the rehab very quickly, and prevent much muscle wastage. They'll put the pin in at the knee joint, feed it down to the tibia, and hopefully it will bring the bone together. He'll be walking again and back on the bike in two or three weeks, and hopefully playing again in three or four months. He could even play with the pin in his leg, and then maybe have it out next summer. It's a massive psychological boost for him."

Rovers' youth team put in a good performance on a poor pitch for their latest league game, with the Rovers goals being scored by Adam Lee, Adam Brown and Jason Flint scoring the Rovers goals.
The under 16's side won 3-1 at Scunthorpe United, but the under-15's lost 2-1 against the same opposition, although they hit the woodwork five times and missed a penalty.

Rovers' captain, Neil Roberts, narrowly won your "man of the match" vote for Saturday's home game against Bradford City. He edged home slightly ahead of midfielder Paul Green, between them they gained over half of the votes cast. With ten players nominted, discounting some disappointing attempts at multiple voting, the results are as follows:
1 Neil Roberts (26.67%)
2 Paul Green (25.33%)
3 Michael McIndoe (13.33%)
Thank you to everyone who took the time and trouble to vote.
The current "Player of the season rankings see the leading places as being:
1 Andy Warrington
2 Michael McIndoe
3 James Coppinger
4 Steve Roberts
5 Mark Albrighton

Doncaster Rovers Belles continued their good form of the season when they won 2-0 at Birmingham on Sunday - moving them up to fourth in the league table, just one point behind leaders Charlton and Everton (although having played more games) and England midfielder Vicky Exley and Scottish international Pauline Hammill scored the Rovers Belles goals.
Adding on to the success of the first team, the Rovers Belles reserves won 3-1 at Everton, meaning that the Rovers Belles are now top of the reserve team league, albeit only on goal differene. meaning that Birmingham now occupy bottom place.

Rovers manager Dave Penney expressed his pleasure at the way his side battled back after going two goals down in Saturday's match against Bradford City, with the equaliser being struck when Rovers had gone down to ten men.
Confirming that he nad no complaints with the second yellow card given to Ricky Ravenhill shortly after he scored Rovers' first goal in spectacular style, Penney said: "It's a good point for us after going down to 10 men. We played some excellent football in the first half and showed plenty of character when the chips were down after the interval. I've no complaints about the sending off. Ricky raised his hands - he knows the rules and he'll be dealt with accordingly. We were disappointed not to get another victory after winning our last four games but at least we've kept the unbeaten run going."

The Viking Supporters' Co-operative have reported that they collected a further £474.37 at Saturday's game with £281.86 being raised in the Viking Bar, and £192.51 in the ground. This means that the total is continuing to rise very well, and now stands at £37,691.38.

Former Rovers defender/midfielder Lee Warren has moved on from Goole AFC to UniBond League rivals Brigg Town, after only joining Goole in the summer. Warren was the only player from the relegation season of 1997/98 to play for the Rovers' first team the following season, making almost 200 Rovers first team appearances by the time he was released in the summer of 2000. He then played for UniBond Premier League club Barrow until he left this summer in order to extend his playing career.

Whilst we have only traced one goal in the Football League being scored by a former Rover - Adebayo Akinfenwa scored Swansea's second goal as they won 3-2 at home to Blackpool, there were several old boys finding the target in the Conference.
Scott Maxfield scored from the penalty spot in their home game against Hinckley United at Holker Street - but they went down to a 5-2 defeat after conceding three goals in the last twenty minutes. Jon McCarthy scored Northwich's second goal as they won 4-1 at home to Kettering Town, and Brian Quailey scored for Nuneaton Borough as they defeated Hyde United 1-0.
The much travelled Scott Willis, who featured for Rovers' youth team in their Conference days, scored for Vauxhall Motors as they defeated Worksop Town 5-2. Willis recently joined Motors on a three month loan from Stalybridge Celtic.
Finally, the infamous Andy Watson scored yesterday for Farsley Celtic In the UniBond League - although his side still went down to a 4-2 home defeat against Burscough.

Former Rover Mark Harbottle, now 37, has joined Nationwide North club Alfreton Town as reserve team manager and under-19's manager. He made four appearances for Rovers in the 1987/88 season, and has made at least 24 changes of club during his playing career - although several of those moves involve Ilkeston Town, who have signed him no less than four times. Harbottle has also turned out for the Reds' reserve team this season.

Former Rovers utility player Robert Pell has been transferred from UniBond club Ossett Town to Frickley Athletic. He made six appearances for Rovers after signing on a season-long loan from Rotherham United in the 1997/98 season, playing briefly in Finland before returning to Britain, since when he has played with a variety of non-league clubs.

A goal conceded on the stroke of half time, followed by a second within 90 seconds of the restart put Rovers up against it, but it merely spurred Rovers forward, with a superb strike from 20 yards by Ricky Ravenhill being the ideal catalyst. Ravenhill was then send off for a second bookable offence, reacting to an altercation with Dean Windass, but still Rovers roared forwards, and successfully equalised through Nick Fenton from a corner. Despite being a man down, Rovers were the better bet to get the winner, but sadly that never came.
The downsides of the game were the acting antics of the Bradford players, who continually went to ground, even when no Rovers players were within a yard of them, and the bizarre decisions by the referee. Bearing in mind this was a Premiership referee, he was a long way from being the best match official seen at Belle Vue for several seasons.
Even so, the result extends both sides' unbeaten run to six matches, but Rovers drop a place in the league table.
The "Man of the Match" voting has now closed, and the result will be annouced on Tuesday morning. Thank you to everyone who has taken part in the voting.

Doncaster Rovers will again be missing a number of players for this afternoon's Yorkshire derby against Bradford City at Belle Vue. Whilst Rovers are expecting that Paul Green will return to the side today after recovering from a "dead leg" sustained at Barnsley last Saturday, doubts over James Coppinger and Steve Roberts remain, both of which were substituted in Tuesday's game. Coppinger is expected to be fit, but Roberts is only rated as 50-50 with a calf strain. Nick Fenton is expected to deputise if necessary. On-loan striker Jonathan Forte is suspended for today's match after being sent off for a second bookable offence on Tuesday.
Longer term absentees Tonny Nielsen, Andy Warrington, Sean Thornton, Jermaine McSporran and Tim Ryan all will be missing again as they recover from injury.

Bradford City, who start the day in seventh place, but only three points ahead of the Rovers, are likely to name an unchanged squad for this afternoon's game, which means they will continue to miss Marc Bridge-Wilkinson (knee), Donovan Ricketts (foot), Owen Morrison (hip) and Damion Stewart (ankle).
City will therefore have a chance of naming one of the oldest pair of strikers in their history, with Dean Windass and Steve Claridge expected to be named in the side today. Windass is walking a disciplinary tightrope today after picking up his fourth yellow card of the season in last Tuesday's bruising 1-1 draw at Colchester United, and feels that he is being singled out by referees. Three of his four yellow cards have been for dissent.
Former on-loan Rover Ben Muirhead is set for a Rovers return , but Colin Todd is expected to drop Steve Schumacher today, after putting in disappointing performances since returning from injury. Whilst City are unbeaten in the last five matches, they have not kept a clean sheet in that run.

Andy Warrington has sent a message of thanks to all the players, management, back room staff and supporters for their support since he broke his leg in the Manchester City game. Andy has said that it will be a big morale boost and help him in his return to fitness.
After visiting a number of specialists, it has been decided that Andy will have an operation next Tuesday to have a pin put into the broken bone. That should mean that Andy will be walking without a pot within three weeks, and he will make a much quicker return to training.

Doncaster Rovers' youth team will be away at Notts County this morning in a Youth Alliance league match. The match kicks off at 11am.