New boss but same old story for Donny
NEW Doncaster boss Darren Ferguson got a flavour of the task ahead of him after Rovers were unable to find a response to Devante Cole’s firstminute strike.
Ferguson was not in the dugout at the Keepmoat Stadium as interim manager Rob Jones took charge of his final game following the former Peterborough boss’ appointment on Friday.
Rovers now sit secondbottom of League One with less than a point per game.
Jones said:“You can’t keep giving teams goals. We did that in the first minute of the game, so obviously we had 89 minutes to get back into it.
“We had a lot of possession in their half but the final ball let us down. I think we’ve had two shots on target at home. It’s not good enough.
“Darren’s watched this game, and watched our last six games on DVD. He’ll have his ideas about what he wants to do, where he wants to go, and players he wants to bring in.
“He’ll do whatever he sees necessary and sees fit to move the club forwards.”
Cole netted his fifth goal in eight league games after Donny failed to deal with Lee Evans’ long throw, flicked on by Rory McArdle.
Keshi Anderson protested long and hard that his 24th-minute effort should have stood, but referee Dean Whitestone correctly disallowed it for handball.
Bantams winger Kyel Reid tested Thorsten Stuckmann just before half-time with a rasping drive that the goalkeeper punched clear.
Jones threw plenty of men forwards in search of an equaliser, but they were unable to break down City’s solid back line.
Andy Willliams had the best chance on 71 minutes, but his finish off James Coppinger’s cross was too close to namesake Ben in the Bradford goal. Substitute Nathan Tyson went close again ten minutes later, but his narrowangled shot went just wide of the far post.
Bradford boss Phil Parkinson said: “We knew coming here that Darren’s been appointed, he was in the stands and floating around the dressing room before the game.
“We knew we were going to get against a crowd which were more spirited, you could feel it in the ground when you came in.
“They have a group of players that wanted to show their new manager that they want to be part of his plans. So it was always going to be that extra little bit more difficult, but I thought the lads were tremendous.
“We’ve got to take the performances from Rochdale and this game into our home games now.”
COVENTRY City manager Tony Mowbray was frustrated with his side’s inability to get the killer goal after a stalemate at home to Blackpool, with both sides guilty of missing chances at the Ricoh Arena.
Both sides were coming off a run of form, prior to the international break, and both sides had chances in the first half with the Sky Blues’ Marc AntoineFortune sliding the ball narrowly wide of the post before Blackpool’s Colin Doyle magnificently tipped a Chris Stokes shot wide.
The lively Adam Armstrong and Jacob Murphy were causing problems for Blackpool but the away side were defending well and restricting the home side to long-range efforts. Murphy was to go close twice with Doyle frustrating the home fans with a string of saves.
Blackpool’s Mark Cullen and Jack Redshaw went close for the Seasiders but were thwarted by a stingy Coventry defence as the scores remained level at the break.
Mowbray said: “Blackpool have started to build a bit of momentum and we knew how they would come and play to make life difficult.
“We worked extremely hard and the players gave all they had got but it was not to be.We had the opportunities but we were not as sharp as we have been this season.
“It is a game we would probably have lost last season when I first came. Those tight matches were all going against us at that time.We didn’t win it, but on the bright side we didn’t lose it either”
The second half saw more chances from both sides with Redshaw forcing Reice Charles-Cook into a smart low save from the edge of the six-yard box before Cullen got on the end of a ball over the top, but put his shot wide of the post after the ball fell to him nicely.
Coventry stepped up their work rate in the second half with John Fleck having an increasing influence on the game but Mowbray’s side were being restricted to long-range efforts with frustration starting to creep in.
Mowbray continued: “We had to gamble and they had one or two chances which went just wide.
“You have to be mindful of that but you have to gamble in games like that. If we had got one, their game plan