Doncaster Rovers 1 Huddersfield Town 0: Hosts on spot - no efforts on target again for tepid Terriers
SEVEN days earlier, penalties proved the difference when these two Yorkshire rivals took the field in the first part of their February double-header.
Step forward, Doncaster Rovers' Timothee Lo-Tutala, who made three penalty saves in an EFL Trophy shoot-out which saw abject Huddersfield Town perform a very passable impersonation of Terry Venables' Barcelona in the European Cup final of 1986 against Steaua Bucharest, which was also decided by spot-kicks.
An effort from 12 yards again proved fateful for Town in part deux, with the incident of note in an otherwise nothing game coming on 34 minutes when a panicking Bali Mumba stuck out a hand after Luke Molyneux headed a ball towards the box with referee Sebastian Stockbridge awarding a blatant spot-kick.
Molyneux was not one to look a gifthorse in the mouth, coolly sending Lee Nicholls - who had been booked moments earlier - the wrong way from the spot.
It was Rovers’ third successive penalty in five league matches, notwithstanding their efforts at the Accu Stadium in the previous midweek.
There were jeers at half-time from the big 2,200 Town contingent who had travelled across from West Yorkshire.
Town were marginally better on the restart, but there was little wit. For a second successive game, they failed to muster so much as an effort on target after Saturday's blank at Stevenage.
On the evidence of both, their top-six spot looks in jeopardy, with the sole positive being Ryan Hardie’s brief appearance from the bench.
With five Yorkshire clubs in League One, derbies will play a part in the season’s narrative for all of that quintet and at this time of year, such matches start to assume even more importance.
Rovers have a monumental one of significance at the bottom end of League One in Rotherham United on Saturday. Before then, it was Town, who themselves face a derby this weekend at home to Barnsley.
Derbies can be pretty non-eventful and this was the case before Mumba’s intervention.
Before that, Town, with the odd moment in transition, might have just edged it, but not by much in truth.
Grant McCann went with nine of the side who lined up from the off in their humbling league loss at Wycombe, bringing in Jordan Gibson and Ben Close.
Town made three changes from the weekend, while a stand-out piece of team news on the bench saw deadline-day signing Hardie named in a matchday squad for the first time.
Opportunity also knocked for Will Alves, handed just his third league start since joining on loan from Leicester City in an injury-disputed season, while Sean Roughan and Lynden Gooch also started.
Marcus Harness saw his low shot curl just wide, while ex-Rovers loanee Gooch, one of the few players on show who showed urgency, saw a deflected shot fly over.
Rovers produced the odd pocket of passing football, but had no outlet at the sharp end, with Elliott Lee often dropping back into midfield. In fairness though, it was his diagonal cross which led to the breakthrough.
On the restart, Town upped the urgency, but the quality count was still pretty low, although Mumba almost atoned by getting on the end of a low cross from fellow wing-back Gooch.
Changes were eventually made and there were some ironic cheers from the Town end when Dion Charles exited the fray after a hard evening.
The visitors switched to a four at the back in a bid to turnaround their fortunes. For their part, Rovers were happy to wait for their chance on the break, while protecting their precious lead.
Further visiting substitutions arrived, including Hardie.
There was a late chance, a Rovers one, with Bailey shooting at Nicholls, while Town went close at the death when a low cross from Ashia was diverted agonisingly wide. They needed to show more, much more.
Doncaster Rovers: Lo-Tutala; Sterry, Byrne, McGrath, Senior; Close (Pearson 81); Molyneux, Bailey, Gotts (Broadbent 81), Gibson (Adelakun 68); Lee (Hanlan 68). Substitutes unused: Oram, Sharp, Clifton.
Huddersfield Town: Nicholls; Balker, Wallace, Roughan (Ashia 63); Gooch (Sorensen 79), Ledson, Kasumu (Humphreys 79), Mumba; Harness, Alves (Hardie 79); Charles (Wales 63). Substitutes unused: Alnwick, Feeney.
Referee: S Stockbridge (Tyne and Wear)
Attendance: 9,100 (2,200 Huddersfield Town supporters).