Football Days

Keepmoat Stadium - Doncaster Rovers FC

Doncaster Rovers 1-2 Walsall

09/02/13 - League One

Att: 7,013

When Sky Sports move your team's match to a Sunday lunch time and you don't have to work on the Saturday then going to South Yorkshire to watch Doncaster Rovers take on Walsall in a League One match seems the obvious thing to do, right? Well, maybe that's just me but at 09:31 myself and two Saddlers fans were on the train out of Birmingham New Street with a few cans and we arrived in Doncaster around 11am.

It was a direct train so there were no complications along the way and before you knew it we were sat in a hotel bar sipping on a bottle of San Miguel before moving on to the Park Hotel which is where we were told to go to meet up with a bus load of Walsall fans. We got there and they'd moved on, but we stayed and enjoyed a few pints as well as some banter with the locals before they kindly showed us the way to the stadium.

Doncaster have played at the Keepmoat Stadium since 2007, taking the unusual step of changing stadiums mid-season with the first Rovers match at the ground played on New Year's Day against Huddersfield Town, although the first sporting fixture at the venue took place five days earlier as Doncaster RLFC faced Sheffield Eagles in a rugby league match.

As with most new grounds it doesn't possess a great deal of character with all four sides being equal height and identical in appearance, although having the corners filled in makes it feel a lot more enclosed than some other new grounds with separate stands. One interesting feature at the ground is the floodlights which consist of four pylons on the roof in each corner, which makes a nice change from the usual row of lights on the roof.

Since returning to the Football League in 2003, following a five year absence, Rovers have enjoyed one of the most successful periods in their history. They won the League Two title a year after being promoted from the Conference, lifted the Football League Trophy in 2007 and the following season they beat Leeds United 1-0 at Wembley to secure promotion to the Championship for the first time in half a century. They were widely tipped to make a swift return to League One but defied the odds by staying up three seasons in a row and in the 2009/10 season Rovers made history when they survived despite being bottom of the league on Christmas day.

Last season Rovers lost six of their opening seven games which lead to the sacking of Sean O'Driscoll, the hiring of Dean Saunders and a succession of high profile loan players. El-Hadji Diouf, Pascal Chimbonda, Habib Beye and Frederic Piquionne (among others) played for club but couldn't save them from the drop as they finished bottom of the league. Wholesale changes were made for the club's return to League One as nineteen players left the club, but Saunders managed to build a team fit to mount a promotion challenge and going into this game Doncaster were level on points with leaders Tranmere, but with a game in hand.

After Saunders took the Wolves job Brian Flynn was appointed as his replacement and his reign got off to the perfect start with a 2-0 victory over Leyton Orient. This was followed by a loss of the same scoreline against Bury and in this match he was up against one of the form teams of the league as Walsall came into the match on the back of seven wins from their last nine, which as seen The Saddlers rise from the bottom four to the verge of the play offs.

We bought our tickets and went into the Walsall end which was at the north end of the East Stand, with the North Stand which usually houses away supporters left empty for the match. Despite only having three sides open the crowd of over 7,000 was the third highest attendance at the Keepmoat Stadium this season, which included 450 who had made the journey from the West Midlands.

The match was only seventy-two seconds old when the visitors opened the scoring as Andy Taylor whipped in a free kick that was headed home by Andy Butler. Doncaster reacted well to going a goal behind and began to put the Walsall defence under pressure as they went in search of an equaliser which came a quarter of an hour later as Billy Paynter scored from close range to bring the home side level. It was quite an even first half and the scores were level at the break.

Like most of the first half, the second period was quite even and there were few clear cut chances for either side. Doncaster went close to taking the lead when David Cotterill hit the crossbar with a long range effort, but as the match was drawing to a close Walsall were enjoying a good spell of pressure. After winning a succession of corners and forcing the Rovers keeper into a few saves the match was decided with just under ten minutes remaining. Febian Brandy picked up the ball on the right wing, cut inside, went round a couple of defenders and smashed the ball into the net to give Walsall the victory.

We clapped the players off and headed back to the pub for a few celebratory pints before catching the train back to Birmingham and continuing the drinking into the early hours following an enjoyable day out. Before visiting I didn't really expect to think much of the stadium, but with it's enclosed corners and interesting floodlights it just about passes as being one of the better new builds and an enjoyable place to visit.