Tuesday 20th November 2018
FA Cup First Round replay
at the Keepmoat Stadium
Doncaster Rovers (5) 7
Alfie May 7, 30, 36, 81,
Matty Blair 21,
Herbie Kane 28,
John Marquis 85
Chorley (0) 0
Admission £10. Programme £1.50
Attendance 3,048 (inc. 599 away fans)
Doncaster Rovers:
Ian Lawlor, Niall Mason, Danny Andrew, Tom Anderson, Andy Butler (C), Ben Whiteman (Tommy Rowe, 46), Matty Blair, Herbie Kane (Alister Crawford, 70), James Coppinger (Paul Taylor HT), John Marquis, Alfie May
Unused subs Marko Marosi, Alfie Beestin, Danny Amos, Shane Blaney.
Chorley:
Matt Urwin, Adam Anson, Adam Blakeman, Andy Teague (C), Scott Leather (Stephen Jordan, 64), Courtney Meppen-Walter, Jake Cottrell, Josh O’Keefe, Louis Almond, Josh Wilson (Reuben Noble-Lazarus, 71), Alex Newby (Dale Whitham, 59)
Unused subs - Jordan Lussey, Jake O’Brien, Jack Lenehan, Danny Eccles.
Rovers had to come from behind twice in the initial first round tie at Victory Park, to force tonight's replay, against Vanarama National League North side Chorley FC, on an afternoon when the hosts had to play out the last half hour with ten men, after Matt Challoner had been red carded for an XXX-rated challenge on Herbie Kane.
Josh O'Keefe had put the Magpies ahead inside the second minute, but Kane equalised shortly afterwards. Courtney Meppen-Walter then restored the Lancastrians lead just before half time, but Kane (who is currently on loan from Liverpool) scored again with thirteen minutes left to play.
On the same afternoon that 'Donny' were up in Chorley, Mansfield Town drew 1-1 with
Charlton Athletic. That game was also being replayed tonight... and during the interim, the second round draw had paired the winner of tonight's game at the Keepmoat Stadium against whoever came out on top at the Valley. In the event, that means that Grant McCann's Rovers will now travel to face Lee Bowyer's Addicks on Saturday December 1st, following Charlton's 5-0 win over the Stags.
A deluge of first half goals saw Doncaster race into a five goal lead inside the opening thirty six minutes, with Alfie May scoring a 29 minute hat trick, which he should've added to just before half time, when he missed an absolute sitter of a chance from close range, from John Marquis' cross from the left flank. Matty Blair and Herbie Kane netted in between May's first and second strikes of the night, as Rovers comfortably and comprehensively saw off their no league visitors.
The on loan Chorley keeper Matt Urwin (of Fleetwood Town) must've done something to upset his teammates, because he forced into making a save down tohis right at full stretch, when Meppen-Walter met a Marquis cross with a diving header towards his own goal and a few minutes later Jake Cottrell hit a bouncing back pass towards him from inside the centre circle, with May homing in on the Chorley goal.
Around the hour mark, the home side were reduced to ten men when Tom Anderson was sent off for a second bookable offence, but although Chorley were looking more composed in the second half, they couldn't make good their numerical advantage.
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| Oi! You! Put your feet down, we're not in Huddersfield now. |
In the seventy third minute, Marquis broke free inside the visitors area and went to ground as Urwin raced out to challenge him and in doing so took the strikers legs from under him. Marquis struck the resulting penalty kick low, hard and on target, but the Chorley keeper pulled off a great save down to his right, to keep the ball out. The 599 Chorley fans were still singing the praises of their side
despite the inevitable outcome of the game and turned the air blue with a chant of: "Fuck the cup, we're going up!" Alas, they didn't get a goal to celebrate tonight, but Rovers got two more in the final ten minutes, when an unmarked May spanked the ball past Urwin from the right hand side of the Chorley area and Marquis curled a sublime strike into the top left hand corner from a similar position.
FT: Doncaster Rovers 7 v Chorley 0
I must say, that I was surprised when an attendance figure of 3,048 was announced, because it didn't look as though anything like that number of people had turned out on such a cold and wet night. But, I guess appearances can be deceptive, when people are spread out and dotted around a 15,000+ capacity stadium.
'Donny' travel to Oakwell on Saturday to take on Barnsley in a League 2 fixture, while Chorley have an away game at Stockport County in the FA Trophy to look forward to.
