A really hard earned 3 points against a team that were much better than us for long periods of the game.
The changes were Kenton, Marques and Prutton out - all injured/with niggles apparently - and in were Richardson, Huntington and Douglas. Must admit to some trepidation when I heard how much our back 4 was being rejigged. The ground is one of those "redevelopment areas" (South Yorkshire I think its called). It was a former slag heap, landscaped to include some hills, trees and a lake (with a small pebbly beach). It is now a leisure park complete with cinema, dubious looking pub/restaurant and a Frankie & Johnny's. The ground was one of those meccano kit grounds - bit like Hull's - the parking, seating, walkways and exits were all pretty good - although the pie/ coffee stand was shut at half time - was that on police orders too...? Doncaster opened with fluid, pacy passing and movement that left us chasing shadows for a while. Our midfield was badly exposed. But the defence dug in. That more or less set the tone for the game. It quickly became apparent that Fraser, Hunts and Sheehan were all up for this right from the off - Lubo took a bit of time to get going but he he coped well enough after a while. MOTM straight off the bat was Huntington who was immense at the back - he won everything in the air, stood up well against a strong physical forward line and intercepted and read the game beautifully. He even managed to use the ball reasonably well - which is better than half of our midfield did. It was an exemplary CHalf display and for my money makes him and Rui the first choice for the next game that Rui is fit for. After riding out the first 15 minutes or so we began to push forward with Freedman and Beckford making clever runs in behind their defence, getting them turning and having to cope with passes coming over their shoulders. Kilkenny and Howson were really pulling some strings, being very mobile and alert - they were getting good support from Johnson, Richardson and Sheehan - all of whom gave some much needed width. For the rest of the half the two teams stood toe to toe slugging it out with good approach play, leading to a chance, this being cleared and then the play swinging to the other end. On about 25 minutes Douglas was tackled from behind, went down and was awarded a free kick about 25 yards out just off-centre of the goal. It looked to be "the wrong side" for a left foot strike, but Sheehan didn't let that bother him. He stepped up and bent the ball up and over the wall and swung away into the far top corner away from Sullivan's dive. An excellent strike. Donny came thundering back at us after that. They missed a couple of presentable chances before Caspar charged out to deny a forward rushing through on goal. A very good one-on-one block. The defence scooped the ball away. Kilkenny headed a different one off the line, from a corner. There were a few more half chances at both ends and towards the end of the half we had a series of corners and free kicks around their box that kept looking like they might produce something but in the end the ball never quite dropped. Through out the first half it was clear that Caspar had been told no more long kick-outs. He did everything he could to play it short, roll it out, bowl it over arm to the half way line. In lots of ways it worked pretty well because it meant that outfield players had the ball to feet and could start moving forward. Sheehan and Frazer were profiting pretty well from this being able to set plays up going down the line, which was where we looked most dangerous. The second half was completely different in that we spent the majority of the half with 9 men behind the ball, leaving Beckford up all alone. In the opening 5 minutes of this half they could have had 4. They were hammering us and it was only a combination of bad finishing, excellent keeping and bad luck that kept them from scoring. We did have a couple of breakaway efforts, one of which Beckford might well have scored from with a flick header, but his contact wasn't good. Having Beckford as a lone man up front has plusses and minuses - plusses in that he is strong, fast and determined, so he causes defenders no end of headaches and gets to balls that he has no right to get to - the minuses being that because he is so fast it takes ages for any support to reach him so he is frequently left stranded; another minus being his erratic control and his lack of awareness of what is going on around him - but take nothing away from him, last night he ran his bollocks off with little support or reward. The midfield more or less disappeared as a creative force in the second half. They more or less served to be extra men in defence - Johnson and Kilkenny became utterly peripheral - Douglas was hopeless with the ball at his feet, continually giving the ball away but great at getting tackles, blocks and challenges in - Howson was the only one who continued to play a full and proper, quality, midfielder's role. But he was a one man show in the middle. Freedman more or less disappeared into the mess in the middle somewhere. Occassionally a ball was thumped long and high towards him but that's not the kind of service that he can use. Freedman and Beckford spent a long time a long way apart last night. Overall they had two big shouts for penalties turned down and we had one. We also had a marvellous hooked clearance to thank for digging us out of a hole towards the end (it was down the other end so I could tell who it was). ANGKERGREN - some brilliant keeping and dreadful distribution (in the 2nd half particularly) - there were a couple of times where he clearances led directly to Donny getting the ball and charging straight back into our penalty area - not good for the stress levels RICHARDSON - reasonable defensively - some very good challenges and interceptions - left for dead a couple of times - wrong side a couple of times (one that very nearly cost us) - willingly overlapped and got forward but the end product was often sadly lacking in quality SHEEHAN - getting better each game - tries to link going forward - tidy in his defensive duties - belter of a free kick for the goal - Macca says he's been doing lots of extra training - good attitude HUNTINGTON - MOTM - the rock on which all Donny's efforts foundered MICHALIK - wobbly start - got better - never entirely convincing but decent enough KILKENNY - pretty good first half - involved in lots of stuff moving forward - disappeared in the second - and was conspicuously hiding by the end HOWSON - mainstay of the midfield last night - is beginning to look like the real deal - gets his tackles in, breaks stuff up, does loads of work, uses the ball well and has a pretty cracking shot on him DOUGLAS - 2 different games - with the ball; crap - defensive duties; excellent JOHNSON - decent enough 1st half - nothing after the break, hence subbed FREEDMAN - really quiet last night, barely got a sniff BECKFORD - immense work rate - little end product SUBS Hughes - came on and ran around - still cannot pass a ball ------------ We filled their ground for them --------- Ref - some highly dubious decisions -------- Macca - has instilled a desire to play football which looks to be paying off - last night there was a definite grit and willingness to do the hard work that was not present at Port Vale ---------- Took effing ages to get away from the ground. _______________________________________________ the Leeds List is an unmoderated mailing list and the list administrators accept no liability for the personal views and opinions of contributors. 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