Doncaster made the brighter start to the second half, but Gavin Williams responded with a good run although his final ball was a little too heavy and was collected by goalkeeper Andy Warrington.
Lee Johnson was the next player to be booked, apparently for a foul although at the time I had believed his caution to be for dissent. The referee awarded Doncaster a further 10 yards on their free kick, but they were unable to capitalise.
A good ball from Williams put Gall away on the right flank, but his cross was cut out for a corner which was met by the head of Jackson but comfortably saved by Warrington. Donny responded with a long shot from Doolan, but this lacked power and was wide of goal.
Doncaster captain Stephen Foster appeared to stamp on Kevin Gall, and although the incident was missed by the referee his assistant called him over to report. Incredibly, Foster escaped with a yellow card and again Doncaster survived with a full compliment of players.
Just after an hour of play Leo Fortune-West, who failed to impress, got his head to a rare McIndoe cross, but was well wide of target. Soon after Chris Brown broke through the Yeovil ranks, but a superb tackle by El Kholti dispossessed him at the expense of a corner. This was the last effort by Brown as he was replaced by Greg Blundell just a couple of minutes later.
A slip by Andy Lindegaard allowed McIndoe to beat him for probably the first time in the game. His cross was flicked on and found Melligan, but his shot was touched round the post by Collis for a corner.
As the final 20 minutes approached Yeovil withdrew Kevin Gall, who had failed to make much of an impact, and replaced him with Adam Stansfield. During the second half Yeovil had given away too many balls unnecessarily, and were too often second to the loose ball. Doncaster were using their strength to wrestle control of the midfield, and were beginning to look the more dangerous side.
Ricky Ravenhill was booked for a foul on Kirk Jackson, but then went from culprit to hero as he gave Donny
the lead. A ball over the Yeovil defence was knocked back, by a player who to be offside from where I was
sitting, and the ball fell to Ricky RAVENHILL on the edge of the penalty area and his shot beat the diving Collis. 0 - 1.
Yeovil responded with an immediate attack, and a Gavin Williams corner was headed in by Colin Pluck, but celebrations were short lived as referee Fletcher decided that there had been an infringement, although it appeared that Darren Way had actually been fouled against. With the game now in the last fifteen minutes Skiverton headed a Williams cross, but was off target, and the Yeovil captain was also booked for a challenge on Leo Fortune-West.
In the 79th minute the referee withdrew, presumably because of injury, and one of his assistants took over with fourth official Mr K Fuller now running the line alongside the main stand.
With the man who had failed to send off two Doncaster players for red card offences, and who had disallowed two Yeovil goals - one in each half - now off the field perhaps the Glovers luck would improve? Not so. Colin Pluck was again spoken to after another foul, and then Gavin Williams put the ball in the Doncaster net, but was judged to be offside (as he has been in the first half when he put the ball over Warrington into the goal).
In the four minutes of added time Leo Fortune-West was shown a yellow card for time wasting, and a Yeovil free kick was moved forward 10 yards to near the Doncaster penalty area. For the fourth time in the game the ball finished in the Doncaster net, but the new referee disallowed the goal and ordered that the free kick be retaken. The remaining few seconds were played out without the home side being able to create an equaliser.
Final score: Yeovil Town 0 Doncaster Rovers 1
This was definitely not a vintage Yeovil performance, and credit must go to Doncaster for their closing down and general effort in the second half. However, it is hard to accept defeat with anything approaching good grace when the referee "bottled" it on two clear red card decisions which could have changed the course of the game, and when goals from Gavin Williams and Colin Pluck were disallowed when Williams appeared to be about 3 yards onside when the ball was passed, and when the Pluck goal seemed to be cancelled out because Darren Way was being fouled at the time!
In my view Yeovil did not really play well enough tonight to win the game, but did certainly not
deserve to lose it. My Yeovil man of the match would be, in agreement with the Vice Presidents, Andy Lindegaard. Tonight Lindy had the job of marking Michael McIndoe, and Yeovil fans know how dangerous he can be but tonight he was completely ineffective as he was consistently outplayed by the Yeovil man.
Robin Evans
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Nationwide League Division Three : Yeovil Town 0 - 1 Doncaster Rovers
