Doncaster Rovers kicked off their third consecutive season in the fourth tier of English football with a statement victory over a lacklustre Accrington Stanley.
Rovers demonstrated quality amongst their build-up play with some star-studded finishes by two dangerous wingers, making an early statement to the rest of the division.
Accrington Stanley had a couple of good spells of positivity but didn’t offer much in the final third action compared to Rovers and will need to head back to the drawing board before their cup tie with Tranmere Rovers on Tuesday.
Selection headaches within the Doncaster midfield
Wherever you look, Rovers had quality across the squad and in each position, you couldn’t distinguish who starts and who stays on the bench or even out of the squad completely.
One example of this is in the midfield partnership behind the front four players. Owen Bailey and George Broadbent together produced a balanced working partnership, with Bailey floating into the spaces, whilst Broadbent, filled in beside him as the deeper of the two midfielders, becoming the club’s number six role-type of player.
This balance worked a treat against a passive Accrington Stanley, but then looking beyond this, you have the versatility of new signing Harry Clifton, who made an appearance off the bench and the potential of Patrick Kelly, the club’s newest signing on loan from West Ham United, who as we described in a previous article as mainly “a defensive minded midfielder”.
Another man waiting in the wings to return after his spell on the sidelines with injury is Ben Close, who is adaptable as a number six or a number eight and will want to make an impact to get the fans to remember why the club signed him, to begin with.
Tyler Walton impresses for Stanley
There is a shining light of positivity for Accrington Stanley from that game and it comes in the form of their new attacking talent Tyler Walton, brought in from non-league Southport.
How he utilised his pace in parts of that game were a sight to behold and when we highlight their only goal of the game, Tyler makes a beeline towards the back post to finish off a unique low-driven ball through to guarantee an equaliser.
Defensively They May Need To Switch It Around At Doncaster Rovers
One thing did concern me about Rovers and that is defensively, they may need to look at some changes.
Firstly, Richard Wood did quite well overall but I felt that there were two areas of his game that he needed to improve on.
The first area is using the midfield as a link-up tool. There were many occasions where he would send it straight down towards the wingers and almost every time, it was intercepted.
The second area was in his ball-playing abilities. There needs to be one person in that pair who is comfortable at driving the ball forward and is more comfortable on the ball.
Doncaster could switch it up next time out by using either Jay McGrath or Joseph Olowu to create a more balanced partnership.
Another defensive question mark has now formed, as left-back James Maxwell was forced off towards the end and replaced by Tom Nixon.
Luckily for McCann, he already has two out-and-out fullback players in Tom Nixon and Jack Senior, with the latter not featured in the squad at all.
With both players fit and ready to go, alongside sporadic teenage player Freddie Allen yet to be loaned out, the future of that position shouldn’t be a moment to worry for McCann or the Rovers supporters.
Accrington Stanley Needs Defensive Reinforcements
The Lancashire side demonstrated an overall poor showing of defensive play in this opening game.
With open spaces, a lack of marking and fitness running on low as the game wore on, the side was dealt a cruel blow on the opening day.
With Jay Rich-Baghuelou injured, a centre-back pairing of Farrend Rawson and Southampton loanee Zach Awe not working out on matchday one and a limited number of alternate options, the club may need to dip into the market for another central defender.
Accrington needs to bring something fresh to that back line and give the current defensive players some more competition ahead of a potentially tough season at Crown Ground, especially after that opening-day performance overall.
