Pre-Season Friendly
The Moat Ground
Tuesday, 27th July 2021, 7.45pm
Rovers Win Penultimate Friendly
Rovers had a comfortable victory in their penultimate friendly against Graham Street Prims with a Steve Hart double and goals from new signing Massiah McDonald and Oli Bailey.
Prims had kindly stood in as Rovers’ original opponents had pulled out of the friendly at the Moat Ground.
Rovers almost got off to the perfect start. McDonald cut in from the left and curled, what looked like a certain goal past Prims keeper, only to see his effort come off the far post.
The following few minutes it was all Rovers with Ryan Seal finding Lucas Powell but the final shot cleared the bar.
It was then the turn of Mason Frizelle to try and find the back of the net, but his powerful header also cleared the bar.
On 15 minutes Rovers went close again. Some good work between Powell and Hart ended with Hart’s shot being well saved by the visiting keeper. Another good save from Prims’ keeper this time denied Powell from opening the scoring.
The first chance for Prims came with a quarter of the game gone. A fast break saw the ball end up with their number 7 but his effort was well blocked by Alex Morris at the expense of a corner.
Almost on the half-hour mark Rovers took the lead and it was Hart who got the goal. A corner was only half cleared and Josh Burniston collected the loose ball and returned a high ball into the area which was headed powerfully goalward by Hart. The keeper made a good save but the striker was quick to react and hammered the rebound home.
Rovers had two further chances to add to their lead just before the break. The first fell to Seal but his show hit the side netting and a minute or so later Morris saw his header deflected over the bar.
The lead for the home side was almost doubled within minutes of the start of the second half. The visiting keeper once more kept his side in the game with a fine reflex save from Powell’s shot in the box.
McDonald latched on to a Seal ball on the edge of the box and hit a thunderous strike which blistered the top of the crossbar. However, the striker hadn’t long to wait for the goal he deserved. On 53 minutes after beating his marker down the left he slipped the ball past the advancing keeper.
Both sides made numerous changes which seemed to unsettle things slightly and it was the visitors who had a good chance to half the deficit, but Rovers’ keeper made a fine save to deny the number 8 his moment of glory.
On 77 minutes Rovers made it three. Connor Ward slipped the ball to Oli Bailey over on the left and the winger curled a delicious shot past the rooted keeper and into the far top corner.
Prims man-of-the-match, the keeper, denied Hart from adding to his tally by pulling off another fine save. The keeper’s legs prevented Ward from scoring, but the keeper could do nothing to stop Hart from getting his second of the game as he cracked a scorcher of a shot into the top corner.
