Rovers old boys return in triumph to leave uphill task

DONCASTER Rovers chairman John Ryan made a point of waiting pitch-side to welcome Derby County’s Gareth Roberts, Paul Green and Jason Shackell as they came off from their pre-match warm-up but must have wished they had missed the coach.

For the former Rovers trio made important contributions to ending Doncaster’s five-match unbeaten run, meaning that victory is vital at home to fellow strugglers Millwall tomorrow night.

It is not just the three points that manager Dean Saunders is seeking but a far better performance from his side.

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“We did not deserve to win – we never started right. It’s the first time I have said we didn’t deserve something from the game,” was the candid assessment from Saunders.

“It’s the first performance below par we have had, especially at home. We had gone five games unbeaten and maybe we turned up thinking we were going to win this game and we had already done the hard bit.

“But Derby have a formula to work to and they have done to us what we have done to others. Now teams are thinking ‘let’s stop Doncaster’ and that’s what happened. Derby stopped us playing and that’s a compliment in a way.”

Saunders looks like being without Shelton Martis, who returned from groin trouble only to hobble off with hamstring and calf problems, tomorrow night when he admits: “This defeat makes it a six-pointer and more important. In order to stay up, we are still going to have win five or six games no matter what happens to others.”

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One bright spot in an otherwise flat day was the return of play-maker John Oster from the bench in place of James Coppinger, whose skill out wide had been sacrificed in an attempt to shore up central midfield after Derby dominated the opening half hour.

But the state of the pitch only helped nullify Oster’s threat and he said: “I don’t think it is conducive to anyone’s passing game at the minute. Whoever can keep the ball in the air the longest will be the best team on the day. It is head tennis and while the pitch may look all right from afar it’s not great and 10 minutes into a game it cuts up quite badly to say the least.”

Oster is delighted to be vying for a first-team start after a bad neck injury.

“I had a nerve being pressed on my bone in my vertebrae and the surgeon just trimmed it away and fused the bones together so there is a little plate in place,” he said.

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“Fingers crossed, it should be okay. It sounds worse than it is. It does not worry me. It was a fairly straightforward operation that mostly occurs in rugby – a kind of whiplash injury.”

Oster is determined to play his part in keeping Rovers up after they slipped to next to bottom.

He said: “It’s disappointing considering our results of late that we have had this performance creep up on us. We have been improving steadily and, hopefully, this is just a little hiccup along the way so, hopefully, we will be able to iron it out for Tuesday. I would say every game at the minute is a must-win. I don’t think there is any game you can single out but our home games are the ones that can get us our points.”

Of the defeat, he added: “If anyone was going to score for them, I would rather it be Gareth Roberts because he served this club well.”

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Right-back Roberts had not scored in 53 previous starts for the Rams but he curled the ball home with aplomb in the 55th minute, making it 2-0 after instigating the move which was continued by Green and returned into his run into the area by Craig Bryson.

It was Roberts’s first goal since scoring in a 2-1 win for Doncaster against Peterborough on March 16, 2010.

The opener had come in the 13th minute when Jake Buxton knocked the ball over the defence and Theo Robinson used his pace to meet it before lobbing over the advancing Carl Ikeme.

Roberts, who along with Green had played a prominent part in Rovers reaching the Championship, soon brought out a fine save from Ikeme with a 22-yard volley.

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Rovers finally responded, Coppinger just failing to get a decisive touch to a deft lay-off from El Hadji Diouf before the captain clipped a cross which former Rams player Giles Barnes met with a firm header that Frank Fielding did well to hold.

Shackell, who spent a season-long loan with Rovers, was solid at the back as Doncaster attempted a second-half comeback but the efforts of Simon Gillett in central midfield were more than matched by Green, who revelled in a return to that role as Nigel Clough opted to give a league debut at right-back to Tom Naylor.

Diouf gave Rovers hope in the 67th minute when he latched on to a flick-on from Barnes and swivelled to score from around eight yards to make it 2-1.

That was as good as it got, leaving Green and Rovers fans to show mutual respect at the final whistle, the Rams player stating: “I don’t like to see Doncaster where they are at the moment because I had some fantastic years here and the fans were brilliant with me. It’s just a sad time to see them at the bottom of the Championship but there are 10 games to go and it is still tight so, hopefully, they can get out of it.”

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