Doncaster Rovers 3 Barnet 2: Wiliams to rescue after Rovers almost thrown off course

Doncaster swept into a two-goal half-time lead, but were bullied after the break as Sam Muggleton’s long throws – described as “unplayable” by Rovers chief Darren Ferguson – catapulted Barnet back to 2-2.

But deep into stoppage time, Andy Williams grabbed a late winner to maintain Rovers’ fine start to life in League Two.

Former York City midfielder Blair was instrumental in all three of Doncaster’s goals.

The 27-year-old’s cross from the right was half-cleared, allowing James Coppinger to unleash an unstoppable volley beyond a stranded Josh Vickers on 15 minutes.

Blair then finished off a lung-bursting run from deep, after a perfect one-two with Williams which caught out a static Barnet defence, to slot the ball beyond Vickers.

Deep into stoppage time, Blair’s cross picked out Williams for the winner.

“I am happy with my own personal performance,” said Blair. “I thought that in the first half, as a footballing team, we were brilliant.

“Barnet couldn’t get anywhere near us, we played them off the park in the first 25 minutes.

“They didn’t really touch the ball, we were that good. It’s the old cliche, a game of two halves.

“We knew what was coming, they had one hell of a long throw, which was undefendable at times. They are always going to create chances from that. They use it from the halfway line, it’s that big. On two occasions, we didn’t really deal with it, and they scored from it. To nick it at the end was just reward for what we did in the first half.”

Rovers dominated from the outset, and were well worth their 2-0 interval lead.

But Barnet had a team which looked like they could hold their own on a basketball court, with giants like John Akinde in the side.

In Sam Muggleton, they possessed a player who had a huge throw-in. It may have not been for the football purists and resembled a flashback to the Eighties, with Graham Taylor on the sidelines, but it was a tactic which unlocked Rovers’ defence.

Barnet, with Muggleton’s throw-ins their main weapon, bombarded Doncaster’s penalty area, creating numerous chances and were unfortunate not to score more than their two goals.

First, Muggleton’s throw picked out Bira Dembele, who headed in from six yards.

Then, with just four minutes remaining, Muggleton found Akinde and his low cross was tucked away by substitute Luke Gambin.

Blair was not to be denied, his near-post cross being flicked in by Williams for the win which keeps Doncaster in second spot in the table.

“It’s probably the best way to win a football match, but not for our hearts,” said Blair. “But we should never have got to that point. We were cruising in the first half, but we showed the spirit in the squad to not give up and keep going to the end. To be winning 2-0, then for them to come back to 2-2 was a kick in the teeth. But we just kept going.”

Muggleton caused Rovers problems in the second half, until Ferguson switched to three centre-backs, to try and deal with the barrage of long balls. The Rovers manager said the distance reached by Muggleton’s throw-ins were tough to defend against.

Ferguson said: “I’ve never played against anything like that before. We knew it was there, we spoke about it before.

“He put the ball into the box 30 or 40 times and the law of averages says they’re going to get something from it.

“It’s just unplayable at times. No matter where the ball goes out on the pitch, it’s going back into your box.

“It’s probably, because of the way the game transpired, the best win of the season, really. To win it in the last minute, means everyone goes home happy. It just became really scrappy in the second half but a win’s a win.”

Doncaster Rovers: Marosi, Mason (Baudry 70), Wright, Butler, Blair, Houghton (Middleton 85), Rowe, Coppinger (Calder 74), Evina, Mandeville, Williams. Unused substitutes: Etheridge, Garrett, Longbottom, Beestin.

Barnet: Vickers, Vilhete, N’Gala, Nelson, Dembele, Campbell-Ryce (Gambin 74), Watson, Togwell (Nicholls 78), Muggleton, Akinde, Akpa-Akpro (Amalusor 58). Unused substitutes: Stephens, Sesay, Taylor, Payne.

Referee: T Kettle.

Man of the match: Matty Blair.