Doncaster Rovers 1 Portsmouth 1: Doncaster able to take solace in Brown’s impressive return

A lot of water has passed under the bridge since the fateful last meeting of these two teams at the Keepmoat at the end of last season.

But while cash-strapped Pompey continue to sink at a rate of knots, resurgent Rovers would have taken another sizeable leap to retaining the Championship status that slipped through their fingers following an unforgettable 4-3 defeat last April with victory on Saturday.

It was not to be as Portsmouth returned south with a point.

Rovers will take comfort from striker Chris Brown’s speedier than expected return from a knee ligament injury which is a real boost to Flynn’s side for the run-in.

He saw plenty of the ball early on, displaying some neat touches, and he saw a shot blocked from the edge of the area as Doncaster went probing for an early breakthrough.

Billy Paynter claimed he was held back when he just failed to get on the end of a dangerous cross from David Cotterill cross from the right, and moments later the same pair combined for Rovers’ best chance of the half.

Cotterill slipped the ball through to Paynter who, with just goalkeeper Simon Eastwood to beat, saw his tame effort saved.

The home side’s persistence eventually paid off, Cotterill providing a perfect cross from the right and Brown peeled off his marker to get there first, hooking it home from close range.

After the interval, Rovers went close to netting a second when Cotterill’s shot was parried by Eastwood and Rob Jones could not keep down his effort on the rebound.

Pompey were starting to gain in confidence and Flynn moved to shore up Rovers’ midfield by replacing James Coppinger with new loan signing Dean Furman.

But the visitors gained a grip on proceedings and it was no surprise at all when the equaliser arrived. Patrick Agyemang showed good strength and composure in the box to turn and lay it across the face of goal for Jed Wallace to gratefully prod home from six yards.

Furman went close to scoring a debut goal when a long throw from Tommy Spurr eventually dropped to Iain Hume who teed up the South African from 20 yards, but his well-struck effort was tipped wide by Eastwood.

Doncaster Rovers: Gary Woods, Quinn, McCombe, Rob Jones, Spurr, Cotterill, Coppinger (Furman 63), Lundstram (Griffin 84), Husband, Brown, Paynter (Hume 79). Unused substitutes: Sullivan, Wilson, Wakefield, Bennett.

Portsmouth: Eastwood, Moutaouakil, Rocha, Gyepes, Butler (Webster 90), Wallace, Racon, Ertl, Walker (Akinde 72), Agyemang, Connolly. Unused substitutes: Smith, Cooper, Sodje, Harris, Maloney.

Referee: Tony Harrington (Cleveland).

Man of the match: Chris Brown.