Doncaster Rovers (0) – QPR (1) – Donny Undone

Team: Kenny, Orr, Hill, Gorkss, Hall, Derry, Faurlin, Routledge, Smith, Ephraim (Buzsaky on 63 mins). Helguson (Hulse on 80 mins).
Subs Not Used: Cerny, Chimbonda, Shittu, Vaagan Moen, Agyemang.
Attendance: 11,747

On a gloriously sunny morning, I jumped on the train for the 40 minute journey to Doncaster and set off in search of the Indy R’s guys. On leaving the train station, I realised, again, that I didn’t know the way to the ground. This is becoming a common occurrence now. I found three R’s fans and jumped in their cab and went with them to the Beefeater which was situated almost opposite the ground. On getting my drink, I found some of the Indy R’s guys and after much kissing and hand shaking, we had a nice catch up and then headed off into the restaurant for something to eat.

I thought us girls were bad at deciding what to order, but these guys were brilliant, order taken and we then went on to cover many of the day’s topics i.e. the Premiership, possible points deduction, the message boards and the U18’s winning 5-1 earlier at Wycombe. Upon demolishing our food and Finney receiving numerous calls from guys trying to find him, we eventually headed off and the first stop was Jimmy’s car to pick up the flag. At this point, we had already lost one of the guys who in mid-conversation had disappeared into the sun without even a glance backwards !

Once in the ground, the Indy R’s flag was laid out and Finney and I found the bar. After that we began catching up with a few people and I then realised that I hadn’t put my bet on. So I headed off to the Ladbrokes stand where I found my bezzie mate Sam and the gang. After much kissing and big hugs, I put my bet on (more on that later) and was then dragged off to sit with Sam. On reaching our seats in the barmy Donny sunshine, I noticed Nick who I’d met at the last away game, taking his seat two rows behind us. When he realised it was me, he came down for a hug and I made him sing his rather catchy Fitz Hall song for Sam (as she’s a huge Fitz fan). It was lovely to catch up with him and I would’ve had a drink at half time, but couldn’t find him in the throng downstairs. They played a song over the PA system, which I think I heard them say they were releasing, oh help me God, it was awful. I’m hoping that it’s only for Donny fans to sing and not for the wider public to hear !

The match then kicked off and it wasn’t the prettiest of games that I’ve ever seen. There wasn’t much to really write home about in the first half, but Tommy Smith took a corner which reached Kaspars Gorkss who then put in a lovely cross that reached Heidar Helguson for him to smash his header against the bar and for the rebound to be cleared. Moussa then had his low driving effort denied by the woodwork.

Tommy Smith, who I thought worked his socks off and seemed to pop up in little pockets of space, was denied when he got in front of his opponent and his effort was pushed over the goal by Woods. Rovers nearly took the lead when Stock’s well taken shot had beaten Paddy Kenny, but it went just wide and into the side netting. I then missed 5 minutes of the game as I had to have a toilet break, my fault for drinking before the game. Just before the end of the first half, Martis jumped the highest to head towards Kenny’s goal. I thought that it was in and so did all the Donny fans, but he tipped it over the bar. Donny’s fans celebrating wildly, oops !

At half time we all headed to the concourse for the usual catch up on the latest scores around the country and toilet breaks. This time we didn’t bother with half time refreshment as we didn’t want to miss the kick off. Most of the talk was about Taarabt’s absence and all the rumours going around really made me laff. How these things get made up !

The second half started and we seemed to be the brighter side, playing some nice football and keeping the Donny team on their toes. Hogan Ephraim picked up the ball from Wayne Routledge on the left and after leaving his marker he cut in and slotted the ball into the bottom right of the goal. It took me a few seconds to register that it had actually gone in. I realised that everyone around me was screaming and jumping up and down and then of course, I joined in. We kept charge of the rest of this period of play and Hogan came off to a standing ovation to be replaced by fans favourite Akos Buzsaky. After a couple of minutes of his song being sung, he nearly repaid the R’s faithful by his effort on goal going just wide. Donny tried to make some runs into the box before the final whistle, but our midfield and defence were brilliant again and thwarted any effort. Faurlin ran his heart out, even if his shots went into the car park and Fitz Hall was magnificent (who’d of thought I’d be saying that ?). He seemed to be on the end of most balls heading towards our goal and getting them away.

The final whistle went and it was a win, not a pretty win, but a win all the same. The travelling R’s fans did the team proud. I haven’t heard us singing like that in a few years and boy it was loud. I don’t think the Donny fans actually made a sound all game. I never heard them sing once and they only made a noise when they thought they had scored, my they must be feeling the pressure. It was a lovely touch by Fitz Hall when he ran over to give his shirt to a youngster to be then followed by Hogan and Wayne Routledge. I love it when they actually come over and do things like that, not just to see the six-packs, but to see that they actually care. By the way, I had bet on us winning 2-0, so my winning spree is finally over, booo !

I said my farewells to Sam and the gang with the usual hugs and I headed off with some of the younger R’s fans who I know through facebook. They took me back to the Beefeater where we had another couple of drinks. My highlight was being introduced to one of the lads and I said: “Hi, I’m LornaSuperhoops, you may know me from such media as twitter or facebook.” He fell about bless him. We then found that we couldn’t get a taxi until 9pm so we had to walk to the train station. It was a long way, but we had a laff and they sang songs all the way back, my feet are still recovering now. I didn’t have the correct footwear for a huge hike. We also got lost at one point and a local decided to take us the back way to the station where I had a feeling on walking down a dark alley that maybe it was a hijack !!! Oh me of little faith, there was the train station.

On looking at the table again this morning, 9 points clear, good job well done. A couple of weeks break now until the next game and I can’t wait. UR’sssssss !!!

Lorna Graham