Club Doncaster Sports Village: Doncaster Rovers 1-1 Stevenage

Doncaster Rovers 1-1 Stevenage

Back in the early 1980's, I (Adrian) travelled up to Doncaster on several occasions to see football at Belle Vue but I had only been to the club's new home once when it opened in 2007. I therefore took the opportunity to venture north again. With good weather forecast, I headed up the M1 and M18 for Rovers' final home game of the season. The old ground was opposite the racecourse on Bawtry Road, it is now a housing estate and I couldn’t see any tribute to the old stadium which is a shame. Back in the 80's, I used to park on St Hildas Road and after some research, I parked on the same estate, this time on Sandy Lane. From here, you walk past a new housing development and a lake following the nature trail round you end up at the ground, now called the Eco Power Stadium. The entire area has been completely regenerated, it was the site of an old local airport but now we not only have a football stadium we have a high spec athletic club and across the road we have Lakeside Village which is a sizable shopping outlet. Also some retail warehouse chains and headquarters of One Call Insurance and the former ground sponsors Keepmoat. The stadium itself is the home of Doncaster Rovers, Doncaster Rovers Belles ladies team and Doncaster Rugby League Club and added to that within the stadium there is a fitness studio and a child’s day nursery, so you could say it’s a multi-use stadium. The ground is perfect for Rovers, a bowl type design with a single tier of red seats going round. As for the game, well Rovers were free from any relegation worries but Stevenage travelled up the A1 knowing a win would just about get them in the League One Play Offs. Some achievement for a club of that size. It didn't quite work out that way but they still have an opportunity on the final weekend next week. It started well enough for the visitors, a 9th minute volley by 35 year old Matt Phillips gave them a lead which at Half Time they were worthy of the lead. However, the second half was completely different. Grant McCann, the Rovers manager, obviously unhappy with his sides poor first half showing made 3 substitutions, one of them being 40 year old Billy Sharp. Stevenage never really got going in the second period and Sharp was immediately causing problems. He should have had a penalty as he was clearly fouled but the referee chose to disagree with the experts in the crowd but Sharp was on hand to score from close range on 69 minutes sliding home a cross from another substitute, Hakeeb Adelakun. If anybody was going to win it was Rovers, Owen Bailey shot over from 6 yards, Broadbent hit the post with a right foot shot and Senior was denied by an excellent reaction save by Filip Marschall. So honours even in the warm mid-day sunshine. If Stevenage are to not only get in the play offs but to be successful they will need to play better. Rovers have had an inconsistent season, good in parts but poor in others. Billy Sharp after yet another spell at Rovers leaves in the summer so this was his last home game. At 40 years old, he still looks in good shape and his EFL scoring record is astonishing. I believe he has scored more goals in the EFL this century than any other Englishman, he clearly has a love affair with his home town club Sheffield United and you would have to say Doncaster Rovers too. There was also a debut today for Bayley McCann, son of the manager as one of the second half substitutes. The road network around Doncaster is very good and I exited the town without any troubles and was back in Leicestershire for about 4pm. Great weather and very nice setting for a football ground.

Doncaster Rovers 1-1 Sheffield United

Keepmoat Stadium is home of Doncaster Rovers. My (Ross) journey started at Loughborough Railway station at 10:45 and arriving at Sheffield an hour later. On the train up to Sheffield, I was surrounded by a herd of Derby County supporters going up to Hillsborough for their match against Sheffield Wednesday.

I was due to change at Sheffield, until the trains I tried to use were cancelled due to a gas leak. Now I was unable to get out of Sheffield via train to Doncaster. The Police Officers told me to go to the Sheffield Interchange and get a bus to Doncaster. After a very long hour on the bus, I arrived in Doncaster Town Centre. At this point, it was 14:40pm! I decided to get a taxi to the Keepmoat Stadium from the town centre and got into the stadium at 15:01pm, well timed!!

At Half Time, in the concourse area, the sound of music was blasted from the tannoy system which was deafening. The queue for food and drinks was long and took a while to get my usual Hot Chocolate (£1.90 – quite expensive in my opinion!)

The game was an enjoyable end-to-end game. Doncaster got the opener 4minutes into the game (I could of missed it!) and Sheffield United got their equaliser later on in the game.

At the end of the game, I decided to take some pictures of the exterior of the stadium. The stadium is fairly new and cost around £30million to construct.

Following the game, the Police were directing the United supporters towards the station, so I decided to follow them. My train back to Loughborough got back at 19:50pm (Slightly late due to problems in Sheffield, again!).

Overall, my trip to Doncaster was an enjoyable afternoon in a beautiful stadium containing an exciting game. Unfortunately the frustrating thing about the day was the travel disruptions.

Club Doncaster Sports Village

Tuesday, 22 September 2026

Doncaster Rovers 1-1 Stevenage

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