Doncaster Rovers show they mean business with 4-1 win over Ipswich Town

Doncaster Rovers are the real deal under Darren Moore.
EQUALISER: Left-back Cameron John finds the net for Doncaster RoversEQUALISER: Left-back Cameron John finds the net for Doncaster Rovers
EQUALISER: Left-back Cameron John finds the net for Doncaster Rovers

The former defender's first season in charge at the Keepmoat was cut short with Rovers adrift of the play-off places but they have strengthened again in the summer, once more making good use of the loan market, and showed what they are made of by sweeping Ipswich Town aside.

The Tractor Boys had only dropped two points from their opening six matches of the League One season and took the lead in South Yorkshire but once they gave Rovers a sniff, there was no hauling them back. With first-choice centre-forward Tyreece John-Jules out injured for the rest of the month, Doncaster scored four times in response.

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Those youngsters sent on loan to experience the blood-and-thunder football of League One are unfortunately being sold short at the moment, but those looking for more of the same style with the added pressure of having to win are certainly getting it at Doncaster. It is an arrangement which is suiting them very nicely indeed, playing a 4-2-3-1 formation with all the facets (and flaws) of top-level Premier League football. No wonder they are finding it so easy to persuade youngsters in the top academies to come and learn with them.

Not that it was all about the youngsters. Captain Ben Whiteman pulled the midfield strings with another command performance and was rewarded with two goals – albeit only one was meant. Warding off Barnsley's interest was probably Doncaster's best work of the transfer window.

With only a smattering of people watching, mainly from the director's and press boxes, last night's game had the feel of an under-23 game, and both sides moved the ball around smartly on a good surface.

Ipswich, who were missing striker Kayden Jackson but no one else to coronavirus after testing the whole squad on Monday, came into the game top of the table and looked a good bet to record a fourth straight win in the early stages as their football contained hints of menace,compared to none from the home side.

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Emyr Huws shot at goalkeeper Josef Bursik after some hungry pressing forced Doncaster to hand the ball over near their penalty area and it was no great shock when the Tractor Boys took the lead in the 16th minute, veteran full-back Luke Chambers overlapping Freddie Sears at the end of a good move and putting over a cross Joe Wright could only turn into his own net.

But they did not go for the jugular, and allowed Doncaster to feel their way into the game.

A poor clearance from goalkeeper Tomas Holy midway through the first half picked out one on-loan full debutant in Southampton's Josh Sims, used on the left wing, and the ball was worked to the other, Manchester City's No 10 Matt Smith, whose shot was off target. Both new boys showed flashes which gave away their pedigrees.

Doncaster's football was sufficiently fluid that Smith played in left-back Cameron John, popping up just to the right of the centre of the goal, to smash an equaliser pleasingly bouncing in off the crossbar.

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Coming after 29 minutes, it was the hosts' first shot on target and the effect on their confidence was instant and obvious. Soon John – himself a loanee from Wolverhampton Wanderers before moving permanently in the summer – was laying the ball off again and heading straight into the centre-forward position as if he had won the right to play there.

Doncaster won a 37th-minute corner which was pulled back to Whiteman around 30 yards out to hit a fairly straight ball into the penalty area – so straight, in fact, that when nobody got a touch it nestled inside the post, Holy flat-footed wrongly anticipating someone would divert it.

Part of the modern way of playing involves a goalkeeper who loves the ball at his feet and England Under-21 international Bursik, on loan from Stoke City, was always calling for it. His 49th-minute pass picked out Aristote Nsaila rather than anyone in red-and-white hoops, but he saved from Sears. Learning when and when not to play will be part of his education.

Ipswich's defending had grown increasingly uncertain, and Rovers exploited it to the tune of two more goals as they sped into the distance.

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The visiting defenders all seemed to think someone else would pick up a loose ball heading towards their area and they were right, but it was Sims, who dragged his shot wide.

When the winger chased a ball clipped down the line, Nsiala panicked and brought him down. Whether it was just inside or outside the area was hard to tell – guess what the Ipswich bench thought? - but there was no doubt about Whiteman's penalty. He certainly meant that shot.

Feijiri Okanbirhie put the game beyond doubt in the 75th minute as Doncaster pounced on more defensive uncertainty to pull the ball into the net. Okanbirhie smashed it home as if he was trying to outdo John, and punched the air with joy. It was his first league goal since the pandemic.

If Rovers keep playing like this, it is unlikely to be his last.

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Doncaster Rovers: Bursik; Halliday, Anderson, Wright, John; Whiteman, Gomes; Taylor, Smith (Williams 85), Sims (James 76); Okenabirhie (Richards 76).

Unused substitutes: Lokilo, Jones, Butler, Coppinger.

Ipswich Town: Holy; Chambers, Nsiala, Wilson, Kenlock; Nolan, Dozzell, Huws (Bishop 60); Judge, Sears (Hawkins 69), Edwards (Bennetts 76).

Unused substitutes: McGuinness, Woolfenden, Lankester, Cornell.

Referee: S Oldham (Lancashire).

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