Leeds eased through to round three of the Capital One cup with a 3-1 win at Doncaster and the hardest part, for me, was to pick a man of the match as there were some outstanding performers and a sound overall team performance at the Keepmoat Stadium from Brian McDermott's side.
McDermott opted for a handful of changes rather than a wholesale shuffle, Adam Drury came in for Stephen Warnock at left-back. McDermott handed debuts to recent signing Scott Wootton and 18-year-old Alex Mowatt made his first start. Matt Smith started against the manager who propelled him on the road to stardom, Paul Dickov of course signing him from non-league football.
Around 4000 Leeds fans in typically good voice made the short trip to the Keepmoat, I found the locals very relaxed and welcoming about the prospect of their ground being invaded by a large travelling army from the west of the county even though we taunted them about being "a town full of Leeds fans" and "only here to watch the Leeds". There seemed to be a large but discreet Police presence but the only threat to our safety came from about a dozen teenagers in the upper West Stand who looked even younger than Rovers latest gimmick, celebrity signing Louis Tomlinson and seemed content to spend one of the last evenings of the school holidays trying to goad us. Tomlinson is in the boy band One Direction apparently and was signed after impressing in a charity match, apparently he has missed pre-season training and been on holiday in America according to his manager.
The hosts should have gone in front after just a minute, Wootton providing an aerobic goal line clearance. Another Doncaster footballer with musical connections albeit by name, Chris Brown, shot over after 10 minutes. Brown, a former Sunderland player famously ditched by the Mackems for making a DIY soft porn movie with a 16 year old girl was certainly proving to be a handful however we have our own big-man, albeit fresh-faced and clean cut in Matt Smith. Smith had half a chance with a header but Ross McCormack had our best chance on 15 when he shot over.
It was a half of few chances but on 41 minutes we edged in front. Mowatt who had caught the eye with some delicate, buzzing runs crossed for Smith to head on and the advancing Wootton crashed home a header off the inside of Turnbull's bar to break the deadlock. Poleon might have made it two before the break when he dragged a shot just wide.
The second half continued in similar fashion to the latter part of the third, we just edged it and on the hour we welcomed a familiar face. Billy Paynter, the man signed to replace Jermaine Beckford replaced Theo Robinson. "If Billy scores, we're on the pitch!" We boomed sentimentally. However there is not much room for sentiment in football and trust Billy to make us eat our words just three minutes later when he flicked a header past Paddy Kenny.
It finally aroused the passion of three sides of the ground, not just the enthusiastic "One Direction" groupies to my right. They even had the cheek to suggest that we "weren't singing anymore". Luckily we kept our cool and nobody tried to run on the pitch as threatened.
It was finally game on and from that moment, at last from a neutral perspective it resembled a proper Yorkshire derby and a cup tie. As the tackles flew in, I was pleased how we kept our shape and composure. Mowatt ended an excellent debut on 74 minutes, replaced by Luke Murphy.
We edged back in front on 77 when Smith finally was rewarded for his endeavours all night with his first goal for the club, typically it was a header at the back post which his former boss Dickov later protested should have been disallowed for a foul on a Doncaster defender, however Smith propelled himself excellently to meet the ball and plant it past Turnbull before running to celebrate in the corner near to the OneD posse.
Three minutes later, it was game over and the home fans were piling for the exits. Poleon was finally rewarded for his own efforts when he was pulled down in the box and Referee Mathieson awarded a penalty. Up stepped McCormack, who send Turnbull the wrong way before kissing the badge in front of the roaring travelling support who again told the world he is not for sale.
A great night out and Rovers chairman and face-lift magnate John Ryan was left bemoaning the cost of missing out on round three to his beloved club and no doubt working on his next gimmick to compensate for Doncaster's absence in this evenings draw.