Report: Iron 0-0 Doncaster Rovers

United were held to a goalless draw against rivals Doncaster Rovers in the first home game of pre-season.

The Iron made six changes ahead of kick-off, with Ross Fitzsimons, Michael Kelly, Max Kougan, Michael Clunan, Danny Whitehall, Kian Scales coming in for Aaron Chapman, Reagan Ogle, Fin Shrimpton, Danny Elliott who all dropped to the bench with Andrew Boyce and Jason Law out of the squad.

It was a fast start for the Iron where they won two corners within the first two minutes which saw Alfie Beestin get on the end of a long ball and winning the Iron the first corner which was deflected out for the second Iron corner of the game and but the cross was overhit which saw the chance fade away.

Doncaster then put on the pressure with a number of chances the first of which was a corner that was calmly caught by Fitzsimons, moments later a through ball tried to find Doncaster number nine George Miller who couldn’t get on the end of it and the ball rolled out for a goal kick.

In the 14th minute, Kelly found space out wide and swung a ball into the box which found the head of Iron number nine Whitehall but his header was caught by the Doncaster goalkeeper Ian Lawlor.

After a scrappy few minutes from both sides, Kouogun received the ball on the edge of his own area and managed to find Cameron Wilson on the right-flank with a long ball who took the ball down well and tried to catch the keeper off guard with an early strike from the edge of the area which flew straight into the Lawlor’s hands.

In the 19th minute Luke Molyneux found space on the edge of the area and made an attempt on goal but the shot was subsequently blocked but Doncaster kept the pressure up with Molyneux causing the Iron problems but he found himself offside which gave the Iron a chance to stop Doncaster’s momentum. 

With 24 minutes played Tyler Roberts ran at the Irons defense where he unleashed a strike from the edge of the area which just glided past Fitzsimons right-hand post.

A Doncaster injury stopped the momentum of play but the Doncaster player was fine to carry on. This led to a slow 15 minutes of the game with neither side having any significant chances.

In the 41st minute, a low cross was put into the area which found Beestin but his attempt was a miss hit and rolled into Lawlor’s hands. 

On the stroke of half time, Wilson drove at the Doncaster left back and attempted to put a cross into the box but was deflected out for a corner which was subsequently cleared by Doncaster which was the final chance of the first half.

Early in the second half, Kelly found Clunan in Doncaster’s half who drove towards Doncaster’s goal and tried a shot but his attempt was wide of the target.

Minutes later, Doncaster won a free-kick outside the Iron’s area. The ball flew towards the top corner and looked to be a certain goal but Fitzsimons pulled out an outstanding save to push the ball out for a Doncaster corner.

In the 60th minute, Doncaster made ten outfield substitutions which was followed by a triple change from the Iron which saw Ogle, Shrimpton and Callum Roberts come onto the pitch to replace Tyler Denton, Dean Rance and Beestin.

After a stale ten minutes, Jimmy Dean decided to freshen up the Iron attack in which Danny Elliott replaced Whitehall for the Iron’s fourth substitution of the game.

The 70th minute saw the biggest chance of the game where substitute Elliott flicked the ball onto Scales who found himself one on one with Lawlor but he couldn't compose himself in time and his attempt rolled wide of the post.

75 minutes into the game, Roberts' tricky footwork beat several Doncaster defenders and set himself up for the shot which forced a save from Lawlor to deny the Iron an opening goal.

Minutes later, a Kelly cross was headed away by the Doncaster defense but the ball fell to Michael Clunan on the edge of the box who struck a volley towards goal but the attempt was blocked. 

The referee then blew for full time with the game ending goalless.

IRON: Fitzsimons, Kelly, Denton (Ogle, 60), Kouogun, Evans, Rance (Shrimpton, 60), Wilson, Clunan, Whitehall (Elliott, 70), Scales, Beestin (Roberts, 60).

IRON SUBS NOT USED: Chapman, Pugh, Poulter, Barrows.

DONCASTER: Lawlor, Molyneux (Sterry, 60), Miller (Maxwell, 60), Taylor (Olowu, 60), Biggins (Wood, 60), Long (Broadbent, 60), Bailey (Rowe, 60), Seaman (Sotona, 60), Roberts (Ironside, 60), Senior (Hurst, 60), Faulkner (Close, 60).

DONCASTER SUBS NOT USED: Bottomley.

ATTENDANCE: 1,588 (484 away).