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Doncaster Rovers 1 Cardiff City 1
IF DONCASTER Rovers are not too careful, they might just emerge as this season's surprise package.
Bookmakers put them down as relegation candidates as soon as they had won promotion and even their own manager, Sean O'Driscoll, thinks it 'naive' to talk about anything but survival.
However, after two Championship games against two clubs with sights set on the Premier League, Rovers are unbeaten with four points from a possible six.
Had it not been for a costly late mix-up between goalkeeper Neil Sullivan and substitute Adam Lockwood on Saturday, they would have recorded a second straight victory after shocking Derby County on the opening weekend.
Lockwood headed the ball out of Sullivan's hands in a packed goalmouth and Cardiff's Ross McCormack scored an 89th- minute equaliser.
Of course, any team will struggle to survive if they carry on making mistakes like that but, overall, Rovers do not look out of their depth so far.
They are determined to play the same cultured passing game that won so many admirers last season and, according to midfielder Richie Wellens, they have players who are determined to prove a point.
The only problem they may have, according to Wellens, is a shortage of money to buy more top players.
Although chairman John Ryan under-pinned a spectacular five-year rise from the Conference to the Championship, Rovers now have to stand on their own two feet financially.
O'Driscoll has already spent his modest transfer budget for the summer – and, as yet, has started league games only with players who were at the club last season.
Wellens said: "We never thought we would look out of place in this division but the question is whether we can keep it going as the games tick by.
"It is easy to get up for the first couple of games.
"We have a lot of players who haven't played in the Championship, a few who have and didn't make it, and there are a lot of us who are trying to prove ourselves. Us, Forest, and Swansea proved last season that you can pass your way out of League One. The difference now is that Forest have a lot of money to spend so they can go out and buy a couple of strikers. Maybe we just lack, at times, that cutting edge?"
Wellens believes Rovers have the look of a 'Spanish side' due to the absence of any six footers and their desire to keep the ball on the ground.
As he also pointed out, Rovers enjoyed plenty of possession against Cardiff but rarely tested goalkeeper Tom Heaton.
"In League One, we got four or five chances a game but not today although we dominated, so we need to work on making more chances," he said. "We can take a lot of positives from the performance but it was a scrappy, poor goal (for the equaliser) and we have thrown two points away."
O'Driscoll's decision to stick with the same side that won at Derby looked spot on when striker Lewis Guy followed up his winner at Pride Park to score another against Cardiff at the Keepmoat Stadium.
Beating the offside trap, the former Newcastle United youngster brought down a long ball from Matthew Mills before hitting a fine half-volley over the shoulder of the goalkeeper and into the net. Rovers opted to try and preserve their lead rather than push for another goal and Lockwood went on as a third centre-back to keep an eye on Cardiff substitute Jay Bothroyd.
It was similar to the policy adopted at Derby seven days earlier but, unlike that occasion, it failed this time around.
Cardiff, last season's beaten FA Cup finalists, had gone toe-to-toe with Rovers from the start and both sides had enjoyed spells on top. Sullivan had been the busier of the two goalkeepers, however, producing two key first-half saves to deny Kevin McNaughton and Paul Parry.
Rovers manager O'Driscoll refused to blame either Sullivan or Lockwood for Cardiff's late equaliser insisting it was a 'team error.'
The blunder had not changed his view that Rovers had improved on their opening day performance at Derby.
"There was a lot of hype about last week's performance and I don't think it was as good as people said it was," he said. "This was more like what we could do and our performance probably deserved three points.
"People keep saying we have made a good start but you can't say that until after 10 games. This is only the beginning and another step in the right direction. Every game is a test and we have passed the first test."
Cardiff manager Dave Jones felt a draw was a 'fair result' but admitted that his side had also suffered from a lack of cutting edge.
Jones, however, should not have any trouble finding money to spend before the transfer deadline after the 5m sale of Aaron Ramsey to Arsenal and defender Glenn Loovens's 2.5m move to Celtic at the weekend.
Doncaster Rovers: Sullivan; O'Connor, Mills, Hird, Roberts; Stock; Coppinger, Wellens (Chambers 90); Hayter (Woods 89), Guy (Lockwood 80), Taylor. Unused substitutes: Spicer, Elliott.
Cardiff City: Heaton; McNaughton (Comminges 82), Purse, Johnson, McCormack; Ledley, McPhail, Scimeca (Thompson 76), Kennedy; Parry, Whittingham (Bothroyd 69). Unused substitutes: Blake, Enckelman.
Referee: M Halsey (Lancashire).Big match talking points from Keepmoat Stadium
Two games gone and newly-promoted Doncaster Rovers have raised a few eyebrows by taking four points out of six. Is it really going to last?
So far so good. Rovers look comfortable at Championship level and are sticking to the footballing principles that brought promotion last season.
Manager Sean O'Driscoll might need to invest in another striker before too long but the current set of players are determined to prove their worth.
The next four games will offer a stern test of their credentials – QPR, Coventry, Birmingham, and Charlton – all clubs with money or recent Premier League experience.
What about Cardiff City? Their fans have something of a bad reputation in these parts. Did they behave inside the stadium?
Unfortunately for the majority, there is always a small minority who will let your side down.
In this case, it was a moronic element who felt it witty to pay 'tribute' to the work of the Yorkshire Ripper.
If they had only sang something racist, they could have been arrested immediately.
Apparently, it is within the law to insult common decency by singing about a serial killer. Wonder what the female police officers on duty were thinking at the time?
They also sang "Your ground's too big for you" – a dig at the number of home fans inside the Keepmoat Stadium. Do they have a point?
Not really, when you consider how quickly Rovers' attendances have increased in the last five years.
Yes, there were over 3,000 empty seats, which is disappointing considering it was Rovers' first home game in the second tier of English football for 50 years – but the Keepmoat has a 15,269 capacity and was always built with progression in mind.
Not so long ago, Rovers had less than 1,500 supporters watching Conference football.
MATCH FOCUS
Hero: Lewis Guy
For the second week in a row, the Rovers striker found the net and the former Newcastle United youngster is the unlikely star of the club's season so far. Has grabbed his opportunity in the absence of injured Darren Byfield and suspended Paul Heffernan.
Villain: Cardiff City fans
A small section in the away end sank to sickening depths by chanting "There's only one Yorkshire Ripper". They should have been ejected from the ground immediately. Indeed, they should have been arrested.
Key moment
89th minute: The moment when Rovers tossed away two points through a quite terrible defensive mix-up.
Ref watch
Mark Halsey: Might have got tougher with Cardiff early on as their midfielders committed a number of late challenges.
Verdict
Who says Rovers will struggle this season? It should have been a second consecutive win for them but four points still represents a good start.
Quote of the day
We are a little bit like a Spanish team – we can't play any other way than get it down and play because we are all 5ft 10 and 5ft 11.
– Rovers midfielder Richie Wellens
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Sunday 12 February 2012
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