United line-up: Barrett, Matt Joseph, Granville, Vowden (Hay 68), Craddock, Raynor (Kyd 84), Hayes, Hyde, McGleish, Barnwell, Beall.
Sub not used: Wanless.
Booked: Barnwell 53 (foul)

Ben Mynott's report and ratings:
What a load of rubbish! Hopefully this sticky patch will soon end, but things seem to be getting worse. In my opinion this was out worst performance since before our 6 match run.

The start wasn't too bad, and on reflection we had a reasonable number of chances in the first half. The performance was very similar to that against Rochdale, with the opponents too being of similar quality. Our best chances were as follows:

Colin Vowden met a corner at the far post, only to go for glory from a tight angle and head the ball well wide and over. If he'd have headed the ball back it would have created panic in the Doncaster defence and who knows ...

Scott McGleish broke down the right with his pace, and squared a good cross between defence and keeper. Raynor had run to the near post but both he and the defender missed the ball. It fell to Adi Hayes in acres of space on the left, with nobody anywhere near him. He should at least have hit the target, but snatched slightly at it and pulled it wide. It was hit too hard for Raynor to connect.

Micah Hyde looked like he would get a decent shot in on target but was always closed down too quickly by the defence.

Doncaster’s big no.4, a very strong defender but nothing more than a donkey really, almost scored an own goal when he sliced a clearance just wide; it was curling goalwards, but not quite quickly enough.

Scott McGleish went for glory a couple of times, attempting the impossible from 25+ yards. One effort hit the target but was tame, the others weren't even close.

Doncaster’s best chances came from snap shots from 20 yards. Twice Barrett looked beaten only for the ball to go just wide.

The second half saw Doncaster start to dominate. Cambridge's performance got worse and they rarely threatened for the remainder of the match. Doncaster always looked likely to score, with the number 4 seeing a free header hit Barrett's right post and rebound towards the goal only for Scott to palm the ball away.

Sure enough Doncaster did take the lead, thanks to a break down the right. The cross came over into the middle where Schofield met the ball on the run with a bullet header, having got goalside of (I think) Micah Hyde.

Despite being a goal down, Cambridge rarely threatened and right up to the final whistle you would have thought that Doncaster were both at home and searching for a winner/equaliser. Despite their poor showing, there were three very good chances to come Cambridge's way. Firstly Jamie Barnwell seemed to have to just hit the target from 6 yards on the left, but pulled his shot wide on his wrong (right) foot. Bad miss, especially for a supposed striker. Then Raynor hit a cracking shot on the turn from just outside the area, low to the keeper's left. His effort went fractionally wide, possibly thanks to a faint touch from the keeper, but the ref signaled for a goal kick.

Then in injury time Cambridge won a free kick on the edge of the area slightly right of centre. Granville looked like he fancied it on his left foot, and sure enough he drove a shot through/just to the left of the wall. It might have taken a slight deflection, but whatever the keeper went the wrong way. Somehow he stopped the shot with an outstretched boot; a shoe size smaller and he may have missed it. The ball rebounded into open space just yards out, keeper on the ground, but despite Doncaster having 5 or 6 men in the wall we failed to have a player get to the rebound first. Soon after the ref blew for full time.

I was a bit surprised with TT's reaction on the radio; he seemed to make out that Cambridge weren't that bad. I thought they were pretty awful, against a very poor side in Doncaster. To their credit, Doncaster defended well and had some welcome experience in Paul Birch in midfield. He seemed to be at the heart of everything. Their keeper, apparently not even their first choice, also had a good game.

Ratings:

Barrett       6     Couldn't really be blamed for the goal.

Matt Joseph   7.5   Man of the Match by a mile.  One of a minority who was "up for it", and the only player to defend well and show a bit of skill going forward.  Was clearly devastated at the final whistle - he'd have died for the cause on the night.

Barnwell      3     I think he was sort of wing back, or was it Hayes?  Played more forward than in defence, and was generally dire.

Craddock      4.5   Nothing special.

Vowden        5     Slightly better than Craddock.

Granville     5.5   Slightly better than Vowden.

Hyde          4.5   He seems to be the barometer for the team.  His poor form has coincided with the team's.  Poor, but better than last week.

Beall         5.5   To his credit hardly ever lost possession, but was too negative.

Hayes         5.5   Impressive first half (bar THAT miss) but anonymous in the second half.

McGleish      5     Tried hard early on, but did very little in the second half.

Raynor        6     Played up front and worked tirelessly.  Nothing seemed to run for him, but he never gave up.

Subs:

(for Vowden and Raynor)

Kyd           4.5   Did very little.
Hay           5     Did slightly more than Kyd.

Ben.

Terry Wilby's report:
We were dire. Their goalie hardly had to make a save, although the one time he did was more by luck as a free kick from Danny Granville hit his legs and was scrambled away.

Why oh why does TT persist with Paul Raynor at the front? He's not big or quick, but we put the ball in the air for him or over the top for him to run on to and got nowhere. Adi Hayes and Jamie Barnwell did nothing, I wanted one or the other replaced with Darren Hay so that Raynor could drop into midfield.

The idea of someone (Barnwell) wide on the left continued, in the second half especially he was alone on the touchline while the play was on the other side of the pitch, which meant we were always a player short in the middle. When we did get the ball we couldn't get the ball out accurately or quick enough.

The defence didn't look very solid, centre halves getting pulled out of position to the full back position which left gaps in the middle. Luckily Doncaster didn't take advantage. Billy Beall seemed to be playing to 'don't go forward' orders, although often his only passing option was backwards. Did Micah even touch the ball, let alone a useful pass. McGleish did lots of running and had a couple of long shots way off target. Vowden was replaced with Hay, then Raynor came off for Kyd, neither could do much.

There didn't seem to be the passion that there was for the last 5 minutes of the Rochdale game. A good crowd (which I thought was nearly 4000) will not be so good for the next home game.

I was wearing my yellow hat, it's magic obviously does not work under floodlights!

My ratings:

Barrett   6
Joseph    5
Granville 6 (because he had the only shot on target)
Vowden    4
Craddock  4
Raynor    4
Hayes     3
Hyde      3
McGleish  5
Barnwell  3
Beall     5

Hay       4
Kyd       4

Terry Wilby.

Many thanks to Ben Mynott and Terry Wilby for their reports.

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