Moors suffered their first defeat of pre-season as two first half goals helped Doncaster Rovers to a 2-0 victory at The Brewery Field on Saturday.

A crowd of over 800 turned up on a warm afternoon in the North East as Graeme Lee’s men stepped up their preparation for the new campaign against the League Two outfit.

Moors enjoyed a bright start as Glen Taylor raced away into space on the left to cross towards the front post, but Junior Mondal just couldn’t get there in time to connect.

Taylor then tried his luck in outrageous fashion from inside his own half, but Rovers keeper Louis Jones reacted quickly enough down to his right to collect.

The visitors then began to take control and they opened the scoring on 15 minutes. Sam Straughan-Brown saw his shot from the edge of the area beaten out by Brad James, but Jordan Gibson as well placed to convert the rebound from six yards.

Taylor drew another save from Jones with a powerful drive at the other end before Rovers doubled their lead through Kyle Hurst who wriggled inside from the left to blast a low shot past James on 27 minutes.

Rob Ramshaw thought he had pulled a goal back when he got on the end of Reece Staunton’s wicked delivery from the left, but the header was ruled out for offside.

The midfielder had a similar opportunity just before half time when he again got on the end of a Staunton cross, but this time Ramshaw headed over the bar.

James had to stand tall to save from George Miller early in the second half after a lovely through ball before Moors suffered a blow when losing defender Dan Rowe to injury ten minutes after the restart.

Billy Sharp headed wastefully wide and James Maxwell sent a low drive just wide of James’ post at the visitors continued to cause some problems for Moors.

Isaac Fletcher did brilliantly to slalom his way through the Doncaster defence on the left only to see his powerful low drive well blocked by Rovers keeper Jones.

Jones also had to stay alert to save again from Taylor four minutes from the end, before turning provider for Fletcher who saw his well-struck shot scrape the post on its way wide.

Full Time: Moors 0 Doncaster Rovers 2

Moors: James, Ledger (Myers 72), Rowe (Beals 55), McGinley, Staunton, Howard (Atkinson 83), Dolan, Mondal (Trialist 75), Ramshaw, Fletcher, Taylor.
Subs not used: Johnson, Naylor.

Doncaster Rovers: Jones, Maxwell, Wood, Broadbent, Miller, Gibson, Sharp, Nixon, Hurst, Straughan-Brown, Williams.
Subs not used: Oram, Degruchy, Kuleya, Murray.

Referee: Martin Coy

Attendance: 813

Photo Credit: Howard Roe (Doncaster Rovers)