Frickley Athletic 0 v Doncaster Rovers 4 - Friendly

Tuesday 2nd July 2013, at Westfield Lane, South Elmsall
Pre Season Friendly
Frickley Athletic (0) 0
Doncaster Rovers (3) 4
Paul Keegan 24
Chris Brown 33, 42
David Syers 73
Admission £8, Programme £1.50, Attendance 703

Woo hoo! The 2013-14 season is up and running.

Frickley Athletic :

Woodhead (Green 45), Gardner (Duffey 69), Jeffs, Picton, Barnett (Griffiths 45), Gray (Royles 45), Ghaichem (Whitehouse 80), Oniama (Lyndsey 75), Wood (Burgess 45), Allott, Hinsley
Doncaster Rovers :
First half team - Sullivan, Husband, Jones, Brown, Harper, Trialist, Trialist, Trialist, Bennett, Keegan, Binns.
Second half team - Trialist, Quinn, Trialist, Syers, Middleton, Paynter, Cotterill, Spurr, Wakefield, De Val Fernanadez, Trialist. Subs. Whincop, Meade
The six Donny Rovers players called Trialist aren't actually related.

Carlsberg don't make pre-season friendlies, but if they did ... torrential rain, on a chill night in South Elmsall, having to contend with kamikaze lorry drivers on the A1 (northbound and southbound) and the sight of a 'Closed' sign in the window of the chip shop on Westfield Lane, when I'd been looking forward to my 'chippy tea' all day, just about ticked all of the boxes.

The result was never in doubt tonight.
Geographically, these two teams play ten miles away from each other, but they're from completely different worlds fitness wise. And financially too, one would've thought, but that didn't deter tonight's Championship visitors from insisting on having half of the gate money raised from this warm up game.

Paul Keegan (no relation to a slightly more famous 'Donny' lad with the same surname), put Rovers ahead on 24 minutes when he shot from just inside the right hand side of the Blues penalty area.
And when Chris Brown headed home the visitors second goal just after the half hour mark, it began to look a bit ominous for Frickley.
Brown netted again before the break. Tom Woodhead saved his initial shot from close range, but Brown got a touch on the rebound to divert the ball over the line.
HT - Frickley Athletic 0 v Doncaster Rovers 4

The visitors had a complete change of personnel at the interval, which was mainly played inside the Frickley half of the pitch. But for all of their territorial advantage, Rovers only managed one more goal, when David Syers latched onto a loose ball and stroked it home from 8 yards after Jamie Green, at full stretch, could only turn the ball into Syers path, when he pulled off a one handed save from, err ... number 21 (no clues to this players identity on the team sheet .. see below).

Left click for enlarged image

A straight forward win for Donny Rovers, who gave my 2013-14 football travels a competent and professional, if not exactly flying, start on a damp night at Westfield Lane.
Every journey of discovery needs a starting point of some description.
FT - Frickley Athletic 0 v Doncaster Rovers 4