Sunday December 9, 2007
National Division, Keepmoat Stadium
Doncaster Rovers Belles 3-0 Rovers

ROVERS Ladies slipped to their fourth defeat in five games on a weather-hit weekend of women's football.

Carla Cantrell opened the scoring for the Belles just before the half-hour mark with a close-range shot from Veronica Cantoro's cross and Liz Hanson doubled Doncaster's lead before the break. Racing onto Clare Uttley's long clearance, Hanson scored her sixth of the season with a cool finish from 15 yards out.

Rovers responded well in the second half, but Hansen set up Cantrell to seal the points for the home side, 15 minutes from time, with her second of the afternoon.

Manager Adam Lakeland said: "Obviously it's a poor result. Doncaster are a good team, but we should have competed with them better than we did in the first half.

"Some of the players were told some home truths at half-time, as the performance of the team has not been good enough over the past few games. Normally the team is full of spirit and very hard working, but these qualities weren't shown in the first half at all.

"I demanded a better performance in the second half, which was what we were capable of doing. The changes that were made spurred the team on and they performed well, although it wasn't enough to turn the game around.

"We need to get back on form as soon as possible. The team and I are not going to give up, we will just have to dig our heels in and keep going.

"There also seems to be an immense amount of pressure from certain people outside the club. Because we have progressed so much over the past 14 months, expectations have hit the roof.

"But we need to remember that with all the personnel changes that have happened within the team, it's more of a transitional year for us. It is only our second year in the Premier League and most of the girls lack experience at this level, so to be in the league position we are in is fantastic.

"We won't let the run of bad form can't get to us though - we just need to remember that we can't reach our long-term goals in the short term."

ROVERS: Payne, Twohig, Williams (Campbell 46), Brewer, Harding, Carroll, Shepherd, Preston, Burke, Penny (Hanson 70), Anderton.
Subs not used: Jackson, Ivinson, Fleck.