Doncaster Rovers 2 Arsenal 2: Into the semi-final, but only just

Almunia - Fantastic display

The sell out 10,006 crowd saw Doncaster take the lead as early as the third minute. With the Arsenal defence playing like they’d yet to be introduced a line ball from a throw saw McIndoe hit a low angled shot under Almunia and in off the near post. Gilberto was captain for the night and Pascal Cygan looked completely at home playing at a First Division ground. With Van Persie picking up a shin injury it was Arturo Lupoli who posed our biggest threat for most of the night and the boy has got what it takes, although tonight everything went the wrong side of the post for him. He was also unlucky when he failed to get a solid looking penalty call from Phil Dowd. So by half time we’d gone seven hours since our last goal which had been against Reading.

After the break we upped the tempo and when Quincy scored with a deflected shot which came off Sean Thorton’s arse we looked pretty comfortable and the team most likely to win. Bendtner had replaced Robin and looked promising, while Quincy’s goal obviously boosted his confidence and it showed. The traffic was pretty much one way despite Quincy going off injured. But because our defences rarely play as a unit Doncaster continued to have chances, and the fact that Almunia was our man-of-the-match says a lot about tonight’s game because he made a number of crucial saves throughout the match. Despite our dominance after the break the match went to extra time.

We continued to look the team most likely to score in added time but Doncaster capitalised from a Senderos cock-up that saw substitute Paul Green net in the 104th. minute. We went close a few times but it was in the two minutes of added time after extra time that Eboue zipped down the right and hit a perfect cross towards the six-yard box. It was met by a charging Gilberto who had timed his run perfectly, despite starting it in his own half. 2-2 and Doncaster were gutted; a famous victory had been snatched from their grasp.

So it was all down to the penalty shoot-out.

Senderos - A bad mistake

First up was captain Gilberto, low into the corner well placed and 1-0 Arsenal despite keeper Budtz guessing correctly. A perfect low penalty into the corner made it 1-1. Cygan hit his down the middle as their keeper dived left for a 2-1 lead to Arsenal. Neil Roberts struck his well enough but it came back off the foot of the post, still 2-1. Sebastian Larsson hit his coolly and to the keepers left for 3-1. A poor one by Heffernan was easily saved by Almunia, so it was still 3-1. Hleb with a decent enough penalty low into the corner but very well saved and still 3-1. Paul Green hit his sweetly enough but at a saveable height and it was Almunia’s night and he saved it well. 3-1 and the final two kicks didn’t need to be taken because Arsenal were through.

Unlucky Rovers! I guess Wenger played our ‘Get out of Jail Free’ card. A last gasp equaliser after extra time from Gilberto and a penalty shoot out win means we get to play Wigan while Blackburn take on United in the other Semi final.