Doncaster Rovers 2 v Coventry City 0 - EFL League 1

Saturday 4th May 2019
SkyBet EFL League One
at the Keepmoat Stadium
Doncaster Rovers (1) 2
Kieran Sadlier 31
John Marquis 85
Coventry City (0) 0
Attendance: 12,794 (inc. 2,292 away fans)
Point & hope match day photo gallery: click HERE

Doncaster Rovers: 

Marko Marosi (GK), Matty Blair, Paul Downing, Andy Butler (C), Danny Andrew, Ben Whiteman, Herbie Kane, Mallik Wilks (Ali Crawford 70’), James Coppinger (Tyler Smith 83’), Kieran Sadlier (Tommy Rowe 83’), John Marquis.

Unused subs - Louis Jones (GK), Ali Crawford, Tom Anderson, Alfie May, Aaron Lewis.

Coventry City:

Lee Burge (GK), Dujon Sterling, Dom Hyam, Jordan Willis, Brandon Mason, Liam Kelly (C), Jordan Shipley (Jordan Ponticelli 74’), Luke Thomas, Bright Enobakhare (Conor Chaplin 45’), Jordy Hiwula, Amadou Bakayoko (Zain Westbrooke 57’).

Unused subs - Corey Addai (GK), Sam McCallum, Declan Drysdale, Charlie Wakefield.

And so, after a whole season of ins, outs and shaking it all about, the race to qualify for the League One play off places went right down to the wire... and, as the teams lined up for this 5.30PM kick off, the scene was set thus:

League 1 table as of 5.30PM

If Peterborough United beat Burton Albion in their home game at London Road, and 'Donny' drew or lost, then 'Posh' would qualify for the play offs, instead of Grant McCann's side.
In the event, the former Doncaster manager Darren Ferguson's Peterborough United side won 3-1, while Rovers put their fans through a some nail-biting moments, before making certain of the win against Mark Robins' Coventry side, late in the game.
Which means the South Yorkshire club will now face in-form Charlton Athletiv in the play offs... and the winner of those games will face either Sunderland or Portsmouth in the final.

My original plan was to drive down to Milton Keynes today, to watch MK Dons v Mansfield Town, a fourth v. third place shoot-out for the last remaining automatic promotion spot from League Two. But, while as of Thursday, the home club were still saying that the game was 'pay on the day', yesterday that all changed.
But, I figured that I could shoot across to Mansfield straight after I finished work and pick up a ticket from Field Mill (AKA the One Call Stadium)... what could possibly go wrong, eh!? 

Mansfield born Steve "Oggy" Ogrizovic  on his last day at work before
retiring, overseeing pre-match drills with 'Cov' keeper Lee Burge.

Hmm... what indeed! Well, not getting home until after 6PM on Friday, well after the Stags ticket office had closed, due to circumstances beyond my control, scuppered my good intentions, so I decided to go online and registered as a home supporter, on the Dons website (I know! The shame of it), but having stooped to such depths in an attempt to gain admission, my flabber was gasted, to discover that I would only be able to purchase tickets in the more expensive parts of the 'Stadium MK', for which, such a dubious pleasure would cost me either £27 (twenty seven) or £32 (thirty two). How much!?

Regardless of the significance and importance of the game, there are very occasional and extremely rare occasions, when one must let the head rule the heart, when chucking loads-a-money at following the beautiful game... and albeit very reluctantly, common sense won the day. Such a ticket pricing con, was nothing short of effing scandalous, for what was, to all intents and purposes, a fourth division league fixture.

Anyway, for the record, MK Dons won that game 1-0 and are now a League 1 club, whereas the Stags now face a two-legged semi-final against Newport County, where they will vye for the honour of facing the winner of Forest Green Rovers v Tranmere Rovers, who have been paired in the other League 2 semi. The attendance at Milton Keynes, boosted by over 5,000 travelling Mansfield Town fans was 20,718... kerching!

Today, saw the one hundredth issue of the Popular Stand fanzine hit the streets of Doncaster.
Sadly, when my subscriber copy arrived this morning, there was no notice informing readers about renewal details, but an editorial column told us all that after putting the last forty nine issues together, Glen Wilson was stepping down as editor of this most excellent journal. If the publication is to continue, Glen leaves some fairly big shoes to fill and he's done an excellent job collating and writing Popular Stand. Alas, these kind of things can become all too time consuming and take on the mantle of becoming a chore rather than a pleasure, so I can completely understand Glen's reasons for stepping away.

Enjoy your football sans any distractions and having a bit more time for yourself Mr Wilson... and much kudos to you for having done such a grand job of editing the fanzine for so long.
Issue 100 contained an interview with 'Donny' legend James Coppinger, who must rank as everyone's favourite ever Rovers player, even those of us who don't even support them.
It's great news that the evergreen Doncaster mainstay has announced this weekend, that he will be playing on in the red and white colours for (at least) another season, after signing a contract extension at the Keepmoat.

Any road, I suppose that you'll all be wanting to know what actually happened out on the field of play today. Well, Donny did enough to get the job done, though Coventry will possibly feel that they had probably deserved at least a point for their efforts today.
For any further details about the game today, that's what YouTube is for innit?: