DRFC - Rovers unlucky in first Masters

Doncaster Rovers failed to get past the group stage in Saturday`s Yorkshire Masters.

The tournament which is played between ex players of each club who are a minimum of 35 years of age.

Only Lee Butler of Rovers nine man squad had previous masters experience, Rovers assistant manager Richard O`Kelly was the oldest player at 52.

The six side Yorkshire Masters was split into two groups with Leeds United, Barnsley and Hull City in group 1 and Doncaster Rovers, Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday in group 2.
The winners of each group would meet in the final.

Barnsley and Hull City kicked the night off in Leeds group with Barnsley winning 2-1.
Doncaster played their first game next against Sheffield Wednesday.

The Rovers made the worst possible start with Wednesday scoring within the first thirty seconds.
Despite two goal from Leo Fortune West, Rovers were never in contention and Wednesday ran out easy 5-2 winners.

In the next group 1 game Leeds drew 2-2 with Hull City to end any hopes of City progressing.

Rovers were back in action again in the next game, this time up against Sheffield United.

Rovers made the perfect start with a goal in the first minute. Gary Brabin rolled back the years with a familiar crunching tackle on Carl Bradshaw and was in the right place to pick up the rebound and fire Rovers into the lead.

The lead was doubled when Russ Wilcox scored for Rovers.

United got back into the game and made it 2-2, with the seconds running down, granddad of the side O`Kelly picked up the ball just inside the United half before firing in from range to give Rovers victory.

The last game in group 1 saw Leeds need a victory over Barnsley to progress to the final.
Barnsley booked their place in the final with a 3-2 victory.


The last game in group 2 was between the two Sheffield sides, Rovers were as good as out after losing their opening game heavily to Wednesday.

The Owls booked their place in the final with a comprehensive 4-1 win over their near neighbours.

In a very tight final between Barnsley and Sheffield Wednesday the scores finished 2-2.
The champions were decided by a penalty shoot out, Efan Ekoku missed the only penalty for Wednesday to hand the title to Barnsley.

Squad:
Lee Butler, Russ Wilcox, Sean Parrish, Leo Fortune-West, Gary Brabin, Steve Gaughan, John Doolan, Mark Sale, Richard O`Kelly




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