Darren Moore refusing to be carried away as Doncaster Rovers push for the top

THE destiny of the League One title may currently rest firmly in the hands of his Doncaster Rovers players, but with 22 games still left to play, Darren Moore says nobody in his camp is thinking about promotion.
Doncaster's Jon Taylor celebrates his opening goal with Matt Smith.  Pictures: Jonathan GawthorpeDoncaster's Jon Taylor celebrates his opening goal with Matt Smith.  Pictures: Jonathan Gawthorpe
Doncaster's Jon Taylor celebrates his opening goal with Matt Smith. Pictures: Jonathan Gawthorpe

Saturday’s 3-2 success over Oxford United took the South Yorkshiremen level on points with second-placed Hull City and to within three of leaders Lincoln, though they boast a trio of games in hand on the former and two over the latter.

February so often proves to be a key month in determining how a team’s season pans out and Rovers head into this crucial period undoubtedly in the best position of all of the third tier’s promotion-hopefuls.

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But, given that his team has only just passed the halfway-mark in terms of their league schedule, Moore insists that it is too soon to for anyone to start worrying about their position in the table.

Doncaster's Fejiri Okenabirhie celebrates making it 2-1.Doncaster's Fejiri Okenabirhie celebrates making it 2-1.
Doncaster's Fejiri Okenabirhie celebrates making it 2-1.

“We’re not even looking at that,” he said.

“For me, as I keep saying, we’ve just won a game of football and we move on to Tuesday.

“The players will keep getting that same message from me, because there’s a load of games to come.

“That’s what we’ve got to do, just move on to the next one.

“It’s only the halfway stage.”

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Moore may, quite understandably, be playing his team’s title chances down at this stage, but there is a growing sense among Rovers’ supporters that 2021 could well be their year.

Nine victories in their last 10 league matches is the strongest evidence of this, while Doncaster’s record against their promotion rivals is also decent. They have already done the double over leaders Lincoln and gone and won away at fourth-placed Portsmouth, all without conceding even a single goal.

In digging deep to edge out the table-topping Imps in their own back yard last weekend, Moore’s charges showed real grit, demonstrating their battling qualities as Ellery Balcombe saved not one, but two spot-kicks.

And on Saturday they again spent long periods with their backs against the wall, though still managed to find a way to overcome an Oxford team who arrived at the Keepmoat having won nine on the bounce in all competitions.

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That they were so clinical in front of goal and managed to score from their only three shots on target is another positive sign.

In Fejiri Okenabirhie and Taylor Richards, Rovers possess two exciting young attacking players very much in-form at the top end of the pitch, the pair joining influential wideman Jon Taylor on the score-sheet as the Yellows were sent packing with nothing to show despite enjoying 62 per cent of possession.

The one real negative of the last few weeks and perhaps the biggest single development with the potential for de-railing Doncaster’s push for a place in the Championship has been the departure of talismanic captain Ben Whiteman to Preston North End during the transfer window.

But a tidy substitute appearance from Celtic loanee Scott Robertson, the man who has inherited the No 8 shirt, will have provided some hope that the midfield void which Whiteman’s exit has created can be filled.

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“As you’ve seen in little snippets he is very neat and tidy,” Moore said of the 19-year-old. “He uses the ball well, he moves well with the ball and we’re really pleased to have him on board with us.

“I think you’ll see more from him because he’s just arrived and you’ve got to let the lad settle down, be in the building for a few weeks, then he’ll get the dynamic and the messages we’re sending.”

Oxford dominated the opening half an hour of Saturday’s contest, and it was very much against the run of play that Rovers broke the deadlock on 31 minutes.

Matt Smith won the ball in the centre of the park and displayed a lovely weight of pass to release Taylor down the right, from where he cut inside and beat Jack Stevens at his near post.

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Sam Long netted a deserved equaliser for United before half-time, but with Richards to the fore, Doncaster pulled clear with two goals in the space of just four second-half minutes.

Firstly, the Brighton & Hove Albion loanee was involved in a neat one-two with Okenabirhie, the latter then going through on goal and slotting past Stevens.

The next effort was even better, Richards himself nutmegging one defender, dancing past another and expertly sliding the ball through a crowd of bodies and into the bottom corner.

Shell-shocked though they were at that stage, Oxford recovered to pull one back through Olamide Shodipo’s deflected 70th-minute strike, and went on to push hard for an equaliser, though there was to be no late reprieve for them.

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Doncaster Rovers: Balcombe; Halliday, Anderson, Butler, John; Smith, Gomes (Wright 77); Taylor (Lokilo 77), Richards (Robertson 57), James; Okenabirhie (Bostock 89). Unused substitutes: Jones, Simoes, Greaves.

Oxford United: Stevens; Long, Moore, Atkinson, Ruffels; Henry, Gorrin (Kelly 78), Brannagan; Lee (Sykes 78), Taylor (Winnall 78), Barker (Shodipo 46). Unused substitutes: Eastwood, Forde, Grayson.

Referee: J Bell (Sheffield).

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