Doncaster Rovers came from a goal down to beat the Blues 4-1 and comprehensively end their unbeaten start to 2020/21 and drop them to second in the League One table. A Joe Wright own goal gave Town the lead on the quarter hour but goals from Cameron John and skipper Ben Whiteman on 28 and 37 gave the home side a 2-1 half-time lead before Whiteman netted the third from the spot in the 62nd minute and Fejiri Okenabirhie made it four two minutes later.

Town boss Paul Lambert made one change from the team which beat Accrington 2-0 on Saturday with Jon Nolan replacing Teddy Bishop, who dropped to the bench, in midfield.
"Striker Oli Hawkins, who missed the weekend match due to a groin problem, was also among the subs.

Lambert started his front three as they moved to in the second half on Saturday with Freddie Sears down the middle, Gwion Edwards on the left and Alan Judge on the right.

Doncaster made two changes from the team which beat Portsmouth 1-0 at Fratton Park on Saturday with veteran former Town target James Coppinger and Reece James moving to the bench, while Matt Smith and Josh Sims made their full debuts having been subs against Pompey.

After the players took a knee in support of Black Lives Matter, the Blues dominated possession in the opening couple of minutes.

Sears won a seventh minute corner for Town following good work from Edwards and Emyr Huws on the counter-attack and from the flag-kick the ball briefly ran loose but to a Rovers player and the home side were able to break.

On nine Huws brought the ball forward midway inside the Doncaster half but scuffed his shot through to Doncaster keeper Josef Bursik.

Neither side had been able to create a more serious chance than that in an evenly-balanced opening spell until the Blues went in front right on the quarter-hour mark.

Skipper Chambers won a header on the right from a Tomas Holy long kick, then burst forward on to Judge’s return pass before sending in a low cross which Joe Wright turned into his own net ahead of Sears.

There was a big scare for the Blues in the 21st minute when Holy scuffed a pass forward to Sims not far outside the area. Nsiala got across quickly to make an important challenge, then Smith curled a shot over.

But Town were seeing most of the ball and passing it around confidently. In the 26th minute Sears and Judge combined on the edge of the box and the Irish international shot into Bursik’s arms.

However, in the 28th minute Rovers levelled with their first shot of the game following a sustained spell of passing in the Town half.

Eventually, with Nsiala and James Wilson having gone after the same ball outside the box, Smith played Cameron John in in space on the right of the area and the former Wolves trainee found the net off the underside of the bar.

Having conceded for only the third time in the league this season, the Blues went about restoring their lead. On 33 a Judge cross from the right was headed straight up in the air by a Doncaster defender ahead of Bursik but the ball failed to fall kindly for Town.

Two minutes later at the other end, Madger Gomes hit a low shot which flew not too far wide.

And in the 37th minute the home side went in front in a somewhat freakish manner. A short corner on the left was played to Sims and on to Whiteman, who sent a ball into the box from midway inside the half which evaded everyone and bounced past Holy to his left and into the net.

Town were behind for the first time in the league this season having not previously conceded twice in a game. Rovers continued to push after their second goal, a dangerous ball from the left flying across the area.

In the 40th minute, Judge hit the wall with a free-kick from not far outside the area and Chambers was unable to make anything of the loose ball.

Two minutes later, Judge found Huws on the edge of the area from where the Welshman hit a powerful volley over the bar.

Town made their way down the tunnel behind at the break for the first time in the league this season.

Having started well enough and got their noses in front, the Blues conceded two disappointing goals against a Rovers side which had previously looked unthreatening.

Both centre-halves were pulled into the same area for the first after Doncaster had been allowed to keep hold of the ball for a long spell, while the second should never have found its way into the net.

From there, Rovers looked the more confident side with Town unconvincing in the latter stages.

Andre Dozzell got his name in the book two minutes after the restart for a foul on Fejiri Okenabirhie.

In the 49th minute Sears hit a powerful strike at Bursik which the keeper did well to hold on to.

Rovers should have been 3-1 up a minute later when the Town defence and keeper Holy left a wayward through ball for one another and Sims was able to get in behind and seize on it. Nsiala was fortunate that his rash challenge didn’t bring the on-loan Southampton down before the winger scraped a low shot wide.

Town had made little headway since the break and on the hour Huws was swapped for Bishop.

Two minutes later, Rovers were 3-1 in front from the penalty spot. Nsiala clumsily felled Sims as he broke into the area on the left and referee Scott Oldham pointed to the spot. Nsiala and the Town bench vociferously claimed the foul was outside the box but the appeals achieved only as caution for the Town defender.

Whiteman confidently beat Holy from the spot to claim his second goal of the evening.

The scoreline was quickly to get worse as Doncaster went 4-1 in front via Okenabirhie.

As the Blues sought to play out from the back, Holy, who was having a tough evening, played a pass to Nsiala to his right but only succeeded in finding Sims, who played the ball inside to Okenabirhie, who picked his spot from the edge of the box.

Town, now having a mountain to climb to get anything from the game, swapped Sears for Hawkins in the 69th minute.

Jon Taylor thought he should have been awarded his side’s second penalty of the game in the 76th minute as he ended up on the ground as he went past Edwards. It was difficult to see whether he slipped or was caught by the Town player.

Edwards was replaced by Keanan Bennetts for Town and Doncaster Sims and Okenabirhie for James and Taylor Richards. On 83 Wilson was yellow-carded for a foul on Smith, who a minute later was swapped for Ed Williams.

In injury time, ??’s free-kick deflected through to Holy, who claimed.

To a huge degree Town were the architects of their own downfall having got themselves in the driver’s seat.

The Town backline won’t want to be reminded of any of the goals with those conceded in the second half as poor as those before the break.

Nsiala, widely praised for his start to the season, had already come close to giving a penalty away before his rash challenge which led to the spot-kick from which Doncaster scored their third.

The fourth, which was down to the type of error when passing out from the back which was a concern in pre-season, ended the game as a contest and the Blues never looked like getting back in it against a Rovers side by that stage unsurprisingly full of confidence.

A first setback of the season - and a very significant one given the margin of the defeat - with a trip to third-placed Lincoln City - where they were beaten 5-3 last season - a big test for Town and their character on Saturday.

Doncaster: Bursik, Halliday, Anderson, Wright, Gomes, Whiteman (c), Okenabirhie (Richards 76), Taylor, Smith (Williams 84), Sims (James 76), John. Unused: Jones, Lokilo, Butler, Coppinger.

Town: Holy, Chambers (c), Nsiala, Wilson, Kenlock, Dozzell, Huws (Bishop 60), Nolan, Judge, Edwards (Bennetts 76), Sears (Hawkins 69). Unused: Cornell, McGuinness, Woolfenden, Lankester. Referee: Scott Oldham (Poulton-le-Fylde).

Photo: Action Images

Northstandveteran added 22:01 - Oct 20 So we've now faced two decent sides. Doncaster and Arsenal school boys. Currently wearing my ' Not in the least bit surprised' face.
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blueboy1981 added 22:03 - Oct 20 For years we gave been a Club too easy to Manage, and too easy to play for - low expectations from far too many fans who continually make allowances and excuses for failure. Until we grow some Rollocks as a Club again, and expect MORE - we will continue as we are, and saw tonight. This is Ipswich Town of today - and don't keep harping on about ‘money to spend' - how many Clubs at this level have that ? - but they achieve relatively more than us ... !!

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Garibaldi added 22:08 - Oct 20 Jesus Christ, calm down people, it's one game. Maybe a couple of changes and then let's go again on Saturday. We're clearly still a bit of a fragile team but consistency and stability take time and calm heads, not knee jerk reactions to one off results.
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DifferentGravy added 22:10 - Oct 20 First 25 mins were ok. We passed it around quite welI without looking overly threatening. Nice piece of play down the right from Chambers for first goal....but then we seemed to become too blase. Not going to bother singling anyone out and accept the fact that players will make mistakes. We seemed to have quite a few that contributed to our overall downfall tonight. But i thought our work rate was completely off the boil. Their first goal looked to be coming. The midfield were standing off their players and allowing them to push forward. The second goal summed it up for me. Players jogging into position,a short corner and given time to just loft it in. Far too easy. Second half....well....say no more! In previous games we have been efficient at best with our shots to goals ratio. We scored 4 the other day but with only four shots on target. The lack of shots concerns me...we had only 4 on target tonight. Lambert needs to have a plan B.... we cant always expect to be able to ticki tacka our way out of a sticky situation (as tonight showed). If the personnel on the pitch arent creating chances.....if Hawkins wasnt fully fit...... Lambert could have done a lot worse than putting Woolfie up top to give us another dimension. The Donny manager did well, he adapted and mixed it up. Sometimes they played some nice passing football, other times they played it over the top....and ultimately caught us out on several occasions in the second half. However, in terms of points we have had a really good start to the season. Hopefully, players will start coming back from injury to bolster the numbers and give us greater options......eh Lambert. On to the next game and an improved performance.

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DerryfromBury added 22:20 - Oct 20 What a waste of a tenner. Deja Vu I fear.
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algarvefan added 22:26 - Oct 20 I just have to talk about Thomas Holy, firstly his distribution is absolutely awful, surely a coach could work with him on this aspect of his game, when he gets the ball to feet, some of his decision making is bizarre and he has been caught out too often in the past. For their second goal, he froze. Playing out from the back is fine when players have space to move the ball into, playing out to them and putting them under pressure is crazy and cost us dearly tonight. When Holy does go long he overhits almost everything out to the wings giving throw ins to the opposition. Lets hope he and the team buck up before Saturday and I'm gutted about Nsiala but he had a nightmare tonight.

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IpswichToon added 22:27 - Oct 20 The rare chance that Cornell has been given in goal, he looks comfortable. But every game we're hearing comments from the opposition's commentary about how Holy looks very uncomfortable in the air or prone to thumbing the ball. I agree. My heart sinks every time the ball goes near him, unfortunately. Even Brenner has recently said something about how Nsiala just looks like it won't be long before one of these mistakes costs us a game. Today may well have been that game. We weren't down and out at the point Nsiala decided to wait until he got into the box to bring his man down today. If you're going to do that, do it earlier!

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Bert added 22:29 - Oct 20 With the number of key players unavailable we should not be surprised that we came unstuck tonight. Some understandable and valid criticisms from real supporters but the usual unintelligent drivel from our northern detractor who clearly has no understanding of the real world. We have lost one game playing a makeshift and young team all season. Come on you serfs back your club and laugh at those who are only happy when we lose.

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ringwoodblue added 22:30 - Oct 20 We will lose games throughout the season but a good team recovers quickly as Hull did after they got beat 4-1 the other week. If we lose again on Sat against one of our bogey teams all that confidence built up over the first six matches will quick dissipate. The most alarming thing for me is how easily Darren Moore worked us out, tactically outwitted Lambert and there was no plan-B from us. I'm not normally a fan of wholesale changes but I'd like to see Lambert give McGuinness and Woolfie a go, bring Ward back in for Kenlock, play Lankaster instead of Judge and Hawkins from the beginning on Sat.

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Linkboy13 added 22:36 - Oct 20 Im afraid certain players got found out tonight and changes need to be made for Saturday . It's no good saying it's just one of those things and do nothing this was our first real test and we failed badly. Biggest concern is the defence Ive never been convinced by Holy he's got a mistake in him every game , poor Toto always struggles against good opposition. I can't see Lambert making wholesale changes probably Wolfenden for Toto and Cornell for Holy and Hawkins back up front.

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chepstowblue added 22:36 - Oct 20 "Lets not panic" was said all too often last season just before our glorious run of 4 wins in 21, by people who refused to grasp what everybody with a hole in their anus could see what was about to happen. Tonight is another reminder that there will be at least 6 sides capable of doing this to us and a play off place is very unlikely. The defence is poor, and this was on the cards. All 4 goals were calamitous. Front runners we certainly arent.

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londontractorboy57 added 22:43 - Oct 20 Ah back to normal poor showing from town and up pops bluebore one for the numbskulls this . I am still trying after 3 years to work out what they wished for.
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Bluearmy_81 added 22:47 - Oct 20 Hi Bert, see Chepstow blue for a dose of realism. You haven't got a pot of glue my old China...
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Dozzells_Bobblehat added 22:48 - Oct 20 The sooner everyone stops f***** about with the ball in your own penalty area the better . It's a stupid trend that needs to stop.
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busterjames1 added 22:54 - Oct 20 Dear oh Dear !!
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Bert added 23:32 - Oct 20 @BA81 at least Chepstow Blue has given an analysis and one that has some truth in it. You, however, clearly have a problem in posting anything other than drivel with Evans as the target. Get a life, move on and think constructively and we may find something in common my old China.
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Beattiesballbag added 00:07 - Oct 21 ringwood, don't think it's that surprising that Darren Moore worked us out, most of the Managers did it last season after a few games & the same is happening again,..... quite simple, close us down & we will pass it back to Holy who will more ofton than not boot it in to touch, give it to someone under pressure, or an opponent....then (& not for the first time) he has misjudged that a ball is going wide & he will just stand & watch as the ball goes in the net.....not a twitch let alone a raised hand. Then we have a midfield who flatter to deceive.......I said after the Blackpool game there is a worrying trend that in every game the opposition have large periods of the game when on the ball pass it forward better than us & when we're on the ball close us down better.....only a matter of time before we ran out of luck........If we have so many talented players why do we find it so hard to find a forward pass in the 3rd divsion...it's not because of pressure from the fans !

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Tractor_Boy_in_HK added 03:33 - Oct 21 I'm going to put the lack of concentration from a few of the players down to the COVID testing and travelling uncertainty. Taking the coach on match day wouldn't have helped. Forget it and move on, but if it happens again........
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tractorboybig added 05:17 - Oct 21 not so much a defeat as a thrashing
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Sospiri added 05:58 - Oct 21 Very poor distribution from Holy, and weak in goal as well. Time to give Cornell a try… Oh, and bring back Bishop...
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norfolkbluey added 07:35 - Oct 21 Lets not forget Lambert's injury list and now our first COVID case. I certainly do not blame him. Obviously he is trying to make players more confident on the ball but the passing has to be more accurate and this is unlikely with the quality of players in this division. I agree with many that we need to look to look at bolstering the defence as they do look fragile. Until we get our sidelined strikers back we will struggle to score goals against the better teams in this league. Its going to be a long winter and we must remain confident, no knocking individuals who read this ill informed chat. This was one blip, so lets get behind the team. So COYB

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MurcianITCC added 07:50 - Oct 21 And with obvious glee the haters are back BA81.. they love "their" team getting beat don't they
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afcfee added 07:55 - Oct 21 Same as last season soon as play half a team tactically no chance.
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Bluearmy_81 added 08:02 - Oct 21 Bert, the only reason I go on about Evans is because he is 80% responsible for our pitiful state yet town fans never go there so I am merely redressing this imbalance. If town fans hadn't been so passive, subservient and serf like over the last decade in the face of chronic underfunding and had put him under a little bit of pressure to shape up, maybe we wouldn't be where we are now, have you ever considered that? The reason we are so poor and will struggle to go up this season on last night's showing is because Evans has decimated the squad and provided us with the poorest squad in living memory. Am I wrong? If not this is a strange thing to ignore or omit from any criticism of the club... In fact it's biazzare

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Help added 08:18 - Oct 21 So if PL states that some are playing to keep the shirt, then after tonight's performance some have the right to have lost the shirt. Some changes required and the start of a slight rotation policy to keep players fresh, especially at the back. At lease one in midfield having a rest as well. Maybe the wake up some players needed. Doncaster not even in the top 6, until after the game. But not the end of the world, more embarrassing then anything else, especially as they scored all 5. Need to sharpen up against Lincoln.

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