Venturing out of the Broad Acres key to Doncaster’s demise

Rovers fans are licking their collective wounds after the club returned from whence they came, back to League One, just 12 months on from their staggering promotion finale at Brentford.

Relegation had nothing to do with their form against their White Rose rivals, but perhaps everything to do with their vital statistics outside the Broad Acres – which saw them amass just five points from a possible 54.

Rovers did not win a single match outside Yorkshire’s boundaries in 2013-14 and is the biggest reason why they will kick off on August 9 in the third tier.

Against their Tykes counterparts, it was a different story with Rovers claiming just their second league wins at Hillsborough and Elland Road.

In addition, they secured only their second league double over the Owls and were also unbeaten in four games against Barnsley and Huddersfield, respectively.

Rovers will be hoping that the numbers stack up next season when they will definitely lock horns with the Reds, Sheffield United and Bradford City and possibly old rivals Rotherham United and promotion-seeking York City, with the local make-up of League One the only redeeming feature in the wake of relegation for Rovers.

In the 2013-14 ‘Yorkshire Championship’ standings, Rovers were top with 16 points from their 10 matches, losing just twice. Those heavy defeats came at Middlesbrough, where they have not won at since February, 1952 and at home to Leeds – you have go back to February, 1948 for their only home win over United.

Derbies also yielded respectable returns of 15 points apiece for Leeds and Sheffield Wednesday, with the pair providing the most crazy derby scoreline of the campaign at Hillsborough on January 11.

Wednesday’s 6-0 televised dismantling of Leeds was the first time in Owls history that they had beaten their West Yorkshire neighbours by a six-goal margin, with the previous occasion in which United had lost 6-0 coming in a defeat at Manchester United in 1959.

Not that derby drubbings were exclusively the preserve of the Owls, with Huddersfield inflicting a 5-0 defeat upon Barnsley on March 1, ironically the last time Town won at home.

The flip side for Town saw them obliterated in the second half by a Ross McCormack-inspired Whites at Elland Road en route to a 5-1 routing on February 1, on one of the most madcap few days on and off the pitch in the history of Leeds.

The drama at the ‘Pitmen’s derby’ between Barnsley and Doncaster on November 9 largely concerned matters just before kick-off when John Ryan resigned as chairman before revealing his reasons in an emotionally-charged Oakwell press conference after the game.

Oakwell also represented Tony Mowbray’s final hour as Boro chief with him leaving in the wake of the 3-2 loss on October 19 , which witnessed the most spectacular derby goal of the season, courtesy of Paddy McCourt’s wonder strike.

Yorkshire’s derby results

Leeds 1 Sheff Wed 1; Middlesbrough 1 Sheff Wed 1; Barnsley 2 Huddersfield 1, Huddersfield 0 Doncaster 0, Sheff Wed 0 Doncaster 1; Middlesbrough 1 Huddersfield 1; Barnsley 3 Middlesbrough 2; Middlesbrough 4 Doncaster 0; Barnsley 1 Sheff Wed 1; Huddersfield 3 Leeds 2; Barnsley 0 Doncaster 0; Leeds 2 Middlesbrough 1; Sheff Wed 1 Huddersfield 2; Doncaster 0 Leeds 3; Leeds 0 Barnsley 0; Sheff Wed 6 Leeds 0; Doncaster 0 Middlesbrough 0; Leeds 5 Huddersfield 1; Sheff Wed 1 Barnsley 0; Doncaster 2 Barnsley 2; Huddersfield 0 Sheff Wed 2; Middlesbrough 0 Leeds 0; Huddersfield 5 Barnsley 0; Sheff Wed 1 Middlesbrough 0; Doncaster 2 Huddersfield 0; Doncaster 1 Sheff Wed 0; Huddersfield 2 Middlesbrough 2; Leeds 1 Doncaster 2; Barnsley 0 Leeds 1; Middlesbrough 3 Barnsley 1.