Leyton Orient 0 Doncaster Rovers 2: ‘Ugly’ Rovers battle their way to a well-earned victory

“We scored two good goals, we scrapped and defended brilliantly,” claimed Saunders after his side moved into 10th place with a game in hand on all the clubs above them.

“It was a typical away performance for this league. I knew they were going to hit the ball on top of us and try and get down the sides so I changed the system, which I didn’t really want to do because we’ve had three good results on the trot.”

Rovers took the lead after 11 minutes through Iain Hume, who found the net with an angled shot from the edge of the area after good work by Chris Brown, to claim his first goal for the club.

Rovers continued to force the pace and Bennett got on the end of David Cotterill’s right-wing cross to the far post, only to see his close-range header collected by goalkeeper Allsop.

Rovers increased their lead on 20 minutes, Cotterill supplying the finishing touch to a 20-yard shot by David Syers.

The Os had gone into the game having picked up 10 points from their last four games while Rovers were unbeaten in their last three.

Rovers were in control in the first half. They were solid at the back, creative in midfield and clinical in and around the area.

The Os were first out of the blocks in the second half and top scorer Brunt tested goalkeeper Gary Woods with an angled shot in the 46th minute.

Woods also denied Kevin Lisbie twice and smothered Clark’s downward header but he was also well protected by his Doncaster defenders, Rob Jones producing a tremendous blocking tackle on Clarke on the edge of the area.

At the other end, Hume shot wide of the far post under pressure and he was replaced by Billy Paynter near the end but the substitute became the sixth player of the game to be booked by referee Nigel Miller.

Lisbie just failed to get on the end of Sawyer’s right-wing cross at the far post as the Os continued to look for the goal they needed to get back into the game.

Orient chief Russell Slade admitted: “Doncaster did to us what we’ve done to teams in recent weeks. They played ugly and came with a game plan to play ugly. They won most of the second balls and we just couldn’t get going. It was just a little bit too comfortable for them.”

Leyton Orient: Allsop, McSweeney, Chorley, Clarke, Sawyer, Cox, Baudry (Laird 60), J Smith, Cook (Odubajo 68), Lisbie, Brunt (Mooney 67). Unused substitutes: Symes, Obafemi, James.

Doncaster Rovers: G Woods, Husband, R Jones, McCombe, Spurr, Cotterill (Quinn 84), Syers, Harper, Bennett (M Woods 79), Hume (Paynter 86), Brown. Unused substitutes: Sullivan, Martis, Blake, Keegan.

Referee: N Miller (Durham).

Man of the match: Gary Woods.