A Narrow Defeat

12th August - Doncaster Rovers 1-3 Knox City

Goal: Trevor Bird

Rovers returned to Anderson Park this week to take on Knox City, who had beaten them 3-2 earlier in the season. After two nights of heavy rain, the pitch was muddy all over with patches of water in places.

Rovers lined up with Adam Bove in goal, a back three of Jarryd Pickard, Michael Kil and Marc Graziani and Karl Pimlott just in front as a stopper. With Ashley Stevenson and Jeffrey Xu on the wings, Oskar Petersson and Ben Vernes filled the centre of midfield, with Trevor Bird and Ian Branch up front.

With Domenic Curulli still troubled by a back injury, Joel Morandini, Gareth Tanner, Kenneth Ng were joined on the bench by Adam Clements, returning after a broken leg at the start of the season.
Rovers started the game brightly, passing the ball around well despite the difficult conditions. On four minutes, Karl Pimlott won the ball in midfield and found Oskar Petersson to his left. After beating his opponent, played a superb ball down the channel to Trevor Bird who made no mistake and beat the Knox keeper low to his right to give Rovers a 1-0 lead.

Knox immediately pressed for an equaliser and after an excellent tackle from Michael Kil the ball fell to former Rovers player Alex Gradwell who forced a diving save from Adam Bove who turned the ball round the post for a corner.

Two minutes later, a quick throw from Adam Bove found marc Graziani who played the ball up the line for Jeffrey Xu. His pass over the top found Ian Branch who's quick cross eluded the onrushing Rovers players.

On 15 minutes Rovers' penalty jinx struck again. After a run of contentious penalties awarded against them, this one was probably the most mystifying. Karl Pimlott and Alex Gradwell tussled for the ball in midfield and Karl may have been guilty of some holding there. However, as they chased into the penalty area the referee blew his whistle and pointed to the spot, surprising players of both sides. Alex Gradwell stepped up and fired the ball low towards the bottom right corner but justice was done when Adam Bove dived brilliantly down to save.

Knox were not to be denied and a long ball over the top found a Knox player who gave Adam Bove no chance to level the score at 1-1.

On 30 minutes Alex Gradwell, a constant problem for the Rovers defence, broke through after catching Rovers in possession. He took the ball onto the edge of the box and looked certain to give Knox the lead, but Adam Bove made a world-class save to palm the ball over the bar.
By now the heavy conditions were causing Rovers problems, with two or three players carrying knocks or strains and after a period of end to end football Knox added a second goal.
As the half drew to a close, Rovers pressed for the equaliser. Adam Clements did well to get the ball over from the left for Trevor Bird to shoot just wide. A minute later, Adam Clements was sent through by a fine ball from Michael Kil but again just missed the target. Just before the half-time whistle, Ian Branch stabbed the ball wide after good work by Ben Vernes.

Half-time: Rovers 1-2 Knox City.

Rovers came out for the second half in determined mood and pressed hard for an equaliser but the final ball was just eluding them. On 47 minutes, an excellent finish by Alex Gradwell, chipping over Adam Bove from 20 metres gave Knox a 3-1 lead.

On 55 minutes, a long ball found Ian Branch who held the ball up well and laid it back to Oskar Petersson. His quick ball into the box found Ashley Stevenson whose volley flashed narrowly wide. Chances were now falling at both ends as Rovers desperately tried to get back in the game.
On 68 minutes, rovers thought they had made the breakthrough. A long throw by Gareth Tanner caused panic in the Knox defence and Ben Vernes controlled the ball under pressure and found Trevor Bird. His shot looked destined for the corner of the net but a great save by the Knox keeper turned it round the corner.

As the clock ticked down, Joel Morandini made a great run from the left into the box and his cross-shot flashed across the goal; eluding both defenders and Rovers' forwards.
In the last minute, good work by Joel Morandini found Trevor Bird in the penalty area, but the Knox defence blocked his effort. With the final whistle going, Rovers came up just short in an entertaining game between two good footballing sides with a final score of Rovers 1-3 Knox City.