An injury time own goal saw Fleetwood Town heartbreakingly lose out 3-2 at Doncaster Rovers on Saturday.
Conor McAleny had opened the scoring for Fleetwood inside ten minutes, but the home side bounced back with two goals from Cameron John and James Coppinger to give Darren Moore’s side the lead at half-time.
Half-time replacement Paddy Madden got Town back into the game ten minutes after the restart, and with chances falling for both sides in the second half, it was an unfortunate injury time own goal from Wes Burns that sealed all three points for the South Yorkshire outfit.
The visitors started off the better of the two sides, with the first effort at goal coming from Josh Morris, he would have had his third goal in as many games if it wasn’t for Halliday who deflected his curling shot out for a corner.
Fleetwood’s dominance was shown by getting the first goal of the match in the 10th minute. McAleny headed the ball across goal after Jordan Rossiter fizzed the ball back into the danger zone. The perfect start for Joey Barton and his side.
Doncaster’s Alfie May had the home side’s first shot on target with a thunderous strike from 25-yards out. Alex Cairns was well behind the right footed shot, which was parried out for a corner.
Rovers found their equaliser moments later through John. The centre half twisted inside the box on a loose ball and with his strike having too much on it, there wasn’t much Cairns could do to prevent it from going in off the underside of the crossbar.
In what was an entertaining match at The Keepmoat, chances kept falling for both sides and when captain Paul Coutts stepped over the free-kick 30-yards out for Morris, Rovers goalkeeper Ian Lawlor just did enough to tip it over the crossbar.
After the frantic opening thirty minutes, the match somewhat settled down for ten minutes, but Coppinger was to have the final say in a pulsating opening stanza.
The Doncaster midfielder exploited the space he had and curled one right around the Town defender into the top corner – a goal of real quality from the home side.
Rovers started the second half as they finished the first, and when the one to watch Kieran Sadlier got passed former Doncaster defender Danny Andrew, his strike hit the underside of the crossbar.
Like just when Town were on top, Doncaster equalised and Town reserved that by grabbing their second ten minutes after the restart. Madden – who was substituted on at half-time headed the ball home from close range after a fantastic point blank range save from Lawlor.
Both managers made changes as the game was getting stretched, and when Jon Taylor ran to the byline minutes after coming on, he made Town defender Peter Clarke head the ball out for a corner kick. A header which the home fans thought he had put into his own net.
Fleetwood thought they had taken the lead after Jack Sowerby’s header ricocheted off the far post, and trickled across the line. Everybody in the stadium thought it was a goal, with Morris’ follow up effort somehow saved by Lawlor.
With chances falling for both teams throughout the match, there was time for one last chance and that fell to the home side. After a wicked ball into the Fleetwood penalty area, a deflection off Burns guided the ball home to give Rovers all three points.
Doncaster: Lawlor (GK), Halliday, James, Anderson, Sheaf, Sadiler, Whiteman ©, May (Taylor 70’), Coppinger (Gomes 90'), Ennis (Sterling 70’), John.
Subs not used: Dieng, Crawford, Blair, Longbottom.
Fleetwood: Cairns (GK), Coyle, Andrew, Clarke, Souttar, Burns, McAleny (Wallace 67’), Morris, Coutts ©, Rossiter (Madden 46’), Sowerby (Biggins 79’).
Subs not used: Gilks (GK), Eastham, Hunter, Mooney.