Doncaster 1 Southampton 0: Sharp stuns Saints to give Rovers timely lift off bottom of the table

Billy Sharp netted his seventh goal of the season for Rovers on the hour as they leapfrogged Coventry City into 23rd place.

Rovers boss Dean Saunders said: “That’s been coming for some time and I thought we deserved it.

“We had a lot of players missing through injury but those who did play today did brilliant and hopefully we can climb the table now.

“We’ve been giving Sunday League goals away in some games but that didn’t happen today and the players are learning all the time.

“There were some excellent performances all round today and we are starting to get used to each other and gel together.

“Very few people will have given us a chance of winning that game but I have confidence in the players that they can beat any team in the division.”

Saints manager Nigel Adkins had no excuses, even though the Saints were without top scorer Rickie Lambert.

“Everyone has injuries from time to time and you have to cope with them,” he said.

“In fairness to Doncaster, they worked hard and had a spirit about them but we need to improve our away form if we want to stay at the top.”

Rovers had much the better of the early stages with Herita Ilunga heading wide from an early corner, before Simon Gillett`s 20-yarder was saved by Kelvin Davis.

Southampton gradually worked their way into the game but, although they enjoyed plenty of possession, they were well contained by the home side for whom on-loan Habib Beye was outstanding in defence.

Impressive captain Brian Stock was only just wide with a 20-yard effort following a quick break in the 27th minute before Southampton had their first chance when Morgan Schneiderlin had a close-range effort parried by Carl Ikeme.

Guly De Prado came to Saints` rescue to head off the line from Ilunga as Doncaster finished the half on top, and their persistence paid off in the second half when they snatched the lead with a superbly worked goal.

Stock produced a superb pass to send Marc-Antoine Fortune racing through in a swift counter-attack on the hour and the West Brom loanee cut the ball back in style for Sharp to lose his marker and produce a splendid finish.

Doncaster Rovers: Ikeme, O’Connor, Beye, Ilunga, Hird, Goulon (Barnes 46), Stock, Gillett, Coppinger, Sharp (Hayter 87), Fortune (Friend 80). Unused substitutes: Sullivan, Bennett.

Southampton: Davis, Richardson, De Ridder (Holmes 71), Fonte, Hooiveld, Fox, Cork (Barnard 72), Hammond, Schneiderlin, Do Prado, Lallana. Unused substitutes: Bialkowski, Harding, Martin.

Referee: A Haines (Tyne & Wear).

Man of the match: Billy Sharp.