The Long Drive

27th May - Sherbrooke Rangers 1-6 Doncaster Rovers

Goals: Ben Vernes (2), Trevor Bird (2), Ian Branch, Karl Pimlott

The long drive to Menzies Creek was rewarded on Sunday with three points as Rovers beat Sherbrooke Rangers convincingly 6-1. It moved Rovers up to third on the ladder with a third successive win and set up nicely a home match with second-placed Ashburton next week.

Rovers lined up with Dominic Curulli at the centre of defence, back after a week's absence, partnered by Michael Kil as the game kicked off with a strong cross-wind blowing. For the first 20 minutes, Rovers pressed for an early goal but the bumpy pitch and the strong wind were making it difficult to string any moves together.

However, the deadlock was finally broken when, after a corner, Sherbrooke were unable to clear the ball and Ben Vernes spun to shoot home from 12 yards. Minutes later, Trevor Bird latched onto a through ball and held off a challenge to run through and beat the keeper to make it 2-0. The third goal followed shortly after with Trevor Bird grabbing his second, stabbing the ball home from close range with his left foot.

Five minutes before half-time Rovers struck for a fourth time with Ian Branch side-stepping a challenge on the left and driving in across the Sherbrooke keeper. When the whistle went for half-time shortly afterwards, Rovers held a comfortable 4-0 lead. The back line of Jarryd Pickard, Dominic Curulli, Michael Kil and Jeffrey Xu had kept Sherbrooke quiet so that keeper Adam Bove had had few anxious moments.

The wind was still blowing hard and the temperature was dropping as Sherbrooke kicked off for the second half. It didn't take long for Rovers to create more chances with Kenneth Ng going close after breaking in from the left. Rovers were then awarded a penalty after a goal-bound header from Ben Vernes was handled on the line. Trevor Bird, on a hat-trick, stepped up to take it but drove it against the bar. A fifth goal arrived shortly after, with Karl Pimlott, an authoritative figure in midfield, shooting home from 18 yards.

The highlight of the game however came shortly after. A sustained period of pressure by Rovers led to a long clearance out of defence by Sherbrooke. The ball fell to Dominic Curulli who knocked the ball straight back towards the goal. It cleared everyone and ran towards the Sherbrooke keeper with Ian Branch and Trevor Bird chasing. Meanwhile the linesman, Dominic's dad, was flagging for offside. The ball eluded the keeper and rolled into the net but the referee gave offside despite no-one touching the ball.

With ten minutes of the match remaining, Ben Vernes added a sixth before a consolation goal arrived just before the end for Sherbrooke via an own goal gave a final scoreline of Sherbrooke 1-6 Doncaster Rovers.