Bournemouth 1 Doncaster Rovers 2: Husband takes second chance to grab Rovers’ late win

Rovers took the chance to reaffirm their promotion credentials with goals from Billy Paynter and James Husband either side of an equaliser from Bournemouth’s Matt Tubbs.

Manager Brian Flynn acknowledged the significance of the victory, commenting: “It’s a big win for us at this stage in the season.

“We played a good team who gave us serious problems all over the pitch. After a difficult Tuesday night against MK Dons, where we weren’t ourselves, we’ve sorted it out and got the team selection right.”

Flynn had recalled Neil Sullivan in goal after an injury to Gary Woods, and he was called into action very early on.

After making space for himself on the left, Marc Pugh delivered a deep cross and Brett Pitman slipped his marker to produce a header which the vigilant Sullivan tipped away for a corner.

From the resulting flag-kick, Bournemouth captain Steve Cook will have bemoaned his luck after seeing his header come back off the crossbar.

Poor visibility was an issue as sea mist rolled in throughout the second half, and it seemed Dave Cotterill went unnoticed as he set up Rovers’ opening goal.

Cotterill sent a low cross to the near post where Paynter manoeuvred himself time and space to tap home.

An excellent save was required from Sullivan on 75 minutes for Rovers to maintain their advantage after Pitman had sent Lewis Grabban clear.

But the veteran goalkeeper was helpless to prevent a late equaliser from substitute Tubbs, which appeared to have gleaned a point for the home side.

Fellow substitute Steve Fletcher’s flicked header put Tubbs clear, and he adroitly lobbed the on-rushing Sullivan.

If Rovers were stunned by the setback they quickly cleared their heads and hit back immediately with a second goal on the break as Husband raced clear.

He saw his first attempt to cross from the byline blocked, but the ball rebounded to him and he finished superbly from an acute angle to maintain Rovers’ lead at the top.

“I’m pleased for young James (Husband) because he’s hit a bit of scoring form now,” said Fllynn.

“It was a cool finish after we got into a good position which he wasted first time round, but luckily it came back to him and he put it away.”

Bournemouth: Allsop, Francis, Cook, Seaborne, Ritchie, McQuoid (Fraser 71), O’Kane, MacDonald (Fletcher 78), Pugh, Grabban (Tubbs 78), Pitman. Unused substitutes: Jalal, Partington, Fogden, Hughes.

Doncaster Rovers: Sullivan, Quinn, McCombe, Rob Jones, Spurr, Cotterill, Lundstram, Coppinger, Husband, Paynter (Bennett 90), Brown (Hume 89).Unused substitutes: Maxted, Wakefield, Sinclair, Griffin, Howieson.

Referee: Fred Graham (Essex).

Man of the match: James Husband.