VENUE #34 DONCASTER ROVERS The Keepmoat Stadium

N-POWER LEAGUE ONE

Doncaster Rovers... 2
Leyton Orient... 0

Saturday 19th January
             2013

@ The Keepmoat Stadium
            Doncaster
        Kick Off 15:00


     It was a cold, cold day in the middle of winter and there was tons of snow covering the pitch at the Keepmoat stadium, Doncaster on the morning of the match.  Donny Rovers fans teamed up with their opponents support to clear the snow so that this game could take place later this afternoon.  Mounds of the white stuff were dotted around the pitch side against the advertising boards, the fans and the ground staff  had done a fantastic job to get this game playable.
     Brian Flynn and Rob Jones take over as joint managers from Dean Saunders who departed to Wolves two weeks ago and they make only one change to the team that beat Stevenage 2-1 at Broadhall Way last weekend, James Coppinger comes in for Iain Hume up front.  Russell Slade makes five changes to his side that lost to Hull in the FA Cup third round replay last Tuesday night and Matheiu Baudry, Llioyd James, Lee Cook, Martin Rowlands and Dave Mooney miss out while Leon McSweeney, Scott Cuthbert, Anthony Griffith, Charlie McDonald and Adebay Azeez step in.
   

Mounds of snow around the advertising boards

 When the match got on the way it was Doncaster who made all the play early on, Orient looked as though Tuesday night's game had taken it's toll on them and never looked like getting into this match.  Rovers made Orient keeper Jamie Jones a busy man in the opening 15 minutes with David Cotterill and Chris Brown bringing out a couple of good saves from him as Rovers pushed for the opening goal which came in the 18th minute, Cotterill's corner was met by player coach Rob Jones as he made a powerful run into the Orient penalty area to head home his seventh goal of the season.
     Doncaster out played Orient in every part of the pitch but could only take a slender one goal lead into the half time team talk.  It was apparent to me that this was the best performance I had seen from a team this season so far and I was very much looking forward to the second half.
     It arrived and Slade made a change to his attack bringing on Dave Mooney for Azeez to see if he could liven up his side a little but it was a carbon copy of the first half with Rovers dominating the game and pressing for the elusive second goal which came in the 54th minute when Chris Brown beat the offside trap to find himself one on one with the out coming Orient keeper but Brown kept his head and slid the ball through Jone's legs and into the back of the Orient net, 2-0.
     Orient hadn't had a shot at goal for the whole of the game so far and had to wait until the 65th minute for their first serious attempt but Mooney's shot went well wide of Gary Wood's goal.
     Doncaster should have put the game to bed in the last quarter of a hour when Paul Quinn's header hit the post and Kyle Bennett's shot was headed off the line in the closing stages.

     The Keepmoat is a 15,231 all seated stadium that was built in 2007 to accommodate Doncaster after they had to move from their previous home Belle view where they had played for 84 years.  The ground looks quite impressive as you approach it through the industrial estate in which it lies.  I had a look round when I got there and there is a large hill at the back of the stadium and the kids were sledging down it in the snow, it was real fun to watch.
     On the inside it looks very clean and tidy and so it should with only being six years old but to me it seems a little boring, there isn't anything to distinguish it from any other new build ground, it lacks character.  You have the East stand where I watched the game from and opposite is obviously the West stand where the dug outs and team tunnel are situated and they both run down the touch lines.  The South stand behind the goal is for home supporters while the North stand is for away fans and holds just over three thousand.

South Stand

     There are plenty of places to get food and drink and you can have your pie and pint while watching Sky sports before the game and at half time which is all well and good.  There are also plenty of toilets but like so many other grounds they all seem to be jam packed during intervals.
     The supporters that I encountered are very friendly, I was talking with some older Gentlemen than myself and for the first time on my travels I was asked where I came from and they were quite surprised when I said I was from Walsall, they couldn't believe that I'd come all that way just to watch Doncaster.  The one gent wanted to show his footballing knowledge and mentioned Paul Merson as being the Walsall manager, I hadn't the heart to tell him that Merson had left Walsall some seven years ago.

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