Doncaster Rovers - Centre of Excellence

Rovers 4 Gefle 0

Rovers Youth team have won their first match 4-0 with goals from Grayson, Hoyle, Oldham & Mullen. It was a good first half with Rovers ending it 3-0 up with the fourth goal in the second half. The team's passing and defending was excellent with Bradshaw doing well in goal, sweeping up behind a solid defence. Two Under 16's have made impressive contributions with Harry Middleton having a shot saved.

Halmstad 3 Rover 2

Rovers lost their second game 3-2 to a strong Swedish team following a poor start. After going a goal down, the team started to play well with an equaliser coming from Jordan Ball ending the first half 1-1. The second half started with Rovers on top having several chances to take the lead. It was the opposition who took the lead following an obvious foul on Aaron Jones which was dismissed by the officials allowing their forward to score. Rovers pushed their players forward in search of an equaliser but were caught light at the back and were duly punished for it. Credit to the Rovers team as they never gave up and reward came in the form a second goal for Rovers, scored by Bradley Grayson who also had a great run and shot saved by the keeper. One of the Under 16 players, Harry Middleton then hit the crossbar with a great shot from 20 yards and followed up with a shot that went just wide.

Rovers 0 Djurgarden 1

Rovers lost their third game, 1-0. Bad refereeing was partly to blame with some dubious decisions given. There were two clear cut penalty claims for Rovers and one further possible. Both Bradley Grayson & Robert Oldham were brought down in the box, Grayson with only the keeper to beat and the Oldham by the keeper when clean through on goal.  Rovers played well and had several chances and never gave up. James Husband hit the crossbar with a great header from a Patrick Mullen cross. It was all Rovers for the last 15 minutes but the lads just couldn't get the equaliser.

Helsingborg 3 Rovers 2

Rovers have lost their fourth game 3-2 but was a very pleasing performance. The team ran out of steam in the last few minutes which was disappointing as they had done extremely well to match the performance of their opposition, Helsingborg, for most of the match. Following them taking the lead, Rovers equalised through Bradley Grayson with a good finish and took the lead with Jordan Ball lobbing the keeper. The team the had two great chances to increase their lead with both Nicholas Adkins and Jordan Ball having their shots saved by the keeper at close range. The opposition levelled late in the game and scored the winner from a corner shortly after .

Rovers 1 Orgryte 1 (Rovers win 6-5 on penalties)

Rovers have won their final match 6-5 on penalties after drawing 1-1 at the end of play. The lads deserved this for their effort all week and it was nice to finish the trip this way. The team started well with good efforts from Hoyle, Ball and Lucas. The opposition scored from a left wing cross to the far post. Rovers dominated the second half with Hoyle coming close twice and Adkins nearly scoring. Under 16 player, Harry Middleton was fouled in the box and Hoyle scored from the resulting penalty. Rovers thought they had won the game when Husband crossed for Mullen to volley in at the far post but another harsh decision from the linesman, giving an off sude ruling.

The first penalty was scored by Grayson, with Hoyle missing the next, and Husband, Davison & Oldham scoring the next three. It was sudden death as Bradshaw saved their 5th penalty. Lucas scored and their player hit the post giving Rovers the win.

Team Overview

The team have been a credit to the Club on and off the pitch and have gained many comments on their play and behaviour. The team have gained so much from this trip playing against other teams from various countries with different footballing systems. We have put our much younger teams in every game played than all our opponents and the lads have more than matched them in every game they have played