Donny Delight For Robins' Reds
The Reds started well with Adam Hammill forcing a save from veteran keeper Neil Sullivan inside two minutes. The former Leeds stopper got down well to palm Hammill's effort wide after Hugo Colace's looping ball found the Liverpudlian free in the area.
Iain Hume's pace was causing many problems for Rovers, the little Canadian racing clear but his cross was hooked away.
Rovers eventually got into the game with some neat passing movement but had little presence up top. Bill Sharp was offside when he put the ball past Luke Steele.
It was surprising just how many blocks the Barnsley backline managed to get in on shots at goal from Rovers, with Foster, Doyle and Shotton, all being in the right place at the right time for the Reds.
Coppinger thought he had put the hosts ahead on 19 minutes when his header met the cross of Gareth Roberts, but Luke Steele - making his first appearance under Mark Robins - clawed the ball away from the top corner with a splendid save.
The Reds failed to test Sullivan in the latter stages of the first half, and Steele at the other end only had the one real save to make thanks to some tremendous last-ditch defending.
Rovers started the second half strongly and showed why they should stay in this division with some good passing football, although Sean O'Driscoll's men will have to find the net more often if they are to reap any rewards.
Dean Shiels struck the bar for the hosts on 54 minutes with a delightful dink from twenty yards after finding space on the edge of the box.
After Macken had tested Sullivan with a low drive, it was Martin Woods who worried Barnsley with a wicked free-kick. The Rovers skipper's 25-yard effort fizzed just wide of the top corner in the 66th minute.
Barnsley's goal came out of nothing when Iain Hume's corner found HAMMILL at the front post, the youngster squeezed his strike home from a tight angle and Sullivan could only get a hand to his powerful strike as it found the roof of the net.
The goal settled a few nerves in the Barnsley ranks although Doncaster were determined to get something from the game.
Foster almost made it two with his header only finding the grateful gloves of Sullivan before Andy Gray nodded just wide in the 80th minute.
Doncaster were breaking well but couldn't penetrate the Barnsley defence - and it was the visitors who were causing more problems. Anderson de Silva, this time, firing into the side-netting when he probably should have squared it for a simple tap-in.
It was a typical smash and grab performance from the Tykes, making it three league wins on the spin - a run of form that was last matched back in April 2007.
Doncaster: Sullivan, Roberts (Heffernan 86), Chambers, Shackell, Hird, Shiels (Fairhurst 84), Woods, Gillett (Guy 86), Coppinger, Hayter, Sharp.
Subs: O'Connor, Spicer, G. Woods, Dumbaya.
Barnsley: Steele, Shotton, Foster, Moore, Dickinson, Doyle (Butterfield 60), Colace, Hallfredsson (Anderson 56), Hammill, Macken (A. Gray 77), Hume..
Referee: Graham Salisbury (Lancashire)
Attendance: 12,708
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Subs: Preece, Bogdanovic, J. Gray, Thompson.
Assistant Referee: Steve Cook (Derbyshire)
Assistant Referee: Ken Haycock (West Yorkshire)
Fourth Official: Dave Naylor (Nottinghamshire)
Posted Wednesday 21st October 2009
