Doncaster Rovers 0 Crawley Town 0: Reds clinch draw on the road

Crawley Town earned a valuable away point from their long Tuesday night trip to Doncaster.
Crawley Town V Fleetwood Town 13-9-14 (Pic by Jon and Joe Rigby) SUS-140916-131036002Crawley Town V Fleetwood Town 13-9-14 (Pic by Jon and Joe Rigby) SUS-140916-131036002
Crawley Town V Fleetwood Town 13-9-14 (Pic by Jon and Joe Rigby) SUS-140916-131036002

Reds made two changes to the team which beat Fleetwood 1-0 on Saturday. Jamie Ashdown was in goal in place of Brian Jensen and there was a start at right-back for Bobson Bawling, with Jimmy Smith moving into midfield.

Conor Henderson dropped to a bench which also included fit-again Gwion Edwards. Lanre Oyebanjo and Josh Simpson were still sidelined by injury.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

It was a case of too little too late as Rovers’ win-less run at the Keepmoat, which stretches back to March, continued.

Crawley had not really got their foot on the ball but they came close to breaking the deadlock on 17 minutes when Gavin Tomlin got to the by-line and picked out an unmarked Ryan Dickson who headed just wide.

Rovers appeared to be on top but it was from another Tomlin centre that Izale McLeod saw his goal-bound effort blocked by Luke McCullough as Town refused to let Rovers have things all their own way.

Former Crawley loanee Kyle Bennett then saw another shot deflected wide after some neat link-up on the edge of the area.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

As the half drifted to a scrappy conclusion, Rovers had been restricted to shots from distance - but at least they had a base to build from that they so desperately needed.

The home side started the second half on top too.

Robinson broke clear but his crossed was blocked, before Crawley’s wall held firm from Bennett’s free kick on the edge.

Doncaster then saw a penalty appeal for handball waved away after some classy build-up from Wellens, who was beginning to run the show in midfield.

Crawley were defending doggedly and every now and again countering. McLeod saw a low effort deflected just wide.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Coppinger, captain in the absence of Rob Jones, tried to grab the game by the scruff of the neck during the final quarter and saw a decent driven effort saved by Jamie Ashdown.

Tyson also turned on the edge of the box and fired over as Rovers became more desperate in their forward play.

But it wasn’t until stoppage time that Doncaster really upped the ante and put Town’s goal under a concerted period of pressure.

First Robinson’s header was clawed away by Ashdown underneath the crossbar.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

And the Town goalkeeper, a trialist with Rovers over the summer, then made a double save to deny Coppinger from distance and Robinson on the rebound.

Rovers: Steer, Wabara, Evina, McCullough, McCombe, Coppinger, Keegan, Wellens , Bennett, Tyson, Robinson. Subs: Marosi, Furman, Wakefield, De Val, Peterson, Askins, Ferguson.

Crawley: Ashdown, Bawling, Dickson, Sadler, Leacock, Smith, Wright (Henderson 56), Walsh, Keane, Tomlin (Banya 78), McLeod (Harrold 82). Subs: Bradley, Young, Edwards, Jenson.

Attendance: 5,197

Related topics: