Palace went through to the next round of the Carling Cup courtesy of an Andy Johnson spot kick double. The first penalty was awarded for a foul on Darren Powell when the ball was on it's way toward the area from a right wing corner. Johnson stepped up and planted the ball into the bottom right corner to give Palace the lead. 15 minutes later and Palace were awarded a second penalty after a crude challenge on Johnson. Again he stepped up, this time hitting the ball straight down the middle while the keeper went to his left. Two nil up and not exactly cruising, but nontheless relatively comfortable, although Greg Blundell hit the bar for Donny in between the two Palace goals.
At half time, Andy Johnson was substituted by Wayne Routledge, and it was a foul on Routledge that lead to the Rovers goal shortly after the break. Michael Hughes swung a left footed free kick into the box, a Doncaster defender easily cleared and the ball was played to Blundell who outpaced Shaun Derry and fired home. This was the signal for the visitors to push forward in numbers ion search of an equaliser. Once again they hit the bar as Palace began to panic. Steve Kember pulled off the totally ineffective Gareth Williams and brought on Aki Riihilahti to add some grit to midfield, but still Doncaster threw everything they had at Palace. Kember then brought on Curtis Fleming for Hayden Mullins and switched to 4 at the back but with no effect. Palace had a couple of half chances as the game wore on, with Shipperley having a header comfortably saved and the same player should have done better when heading towards goal from a tight angle when he had team mates unmarked waiting for him to head the ball back across goal. Doncaster must have thought they had equalised following a goalmouth scramble. Blundell's shot was blocked by a combination of Powell and Berthelin and the loose ball fell intvitingly for him to thump home. However his shot hit a team mate and went behind for a goal kick.
Palace held on for the remainder of the game to record their first win in 6 matches, but made heavy weather of lower league opposition. Once again there were many poor performances. Derry, Powell, Williams and Shipperley were largely ineffective, and the passing from the midfielders was ordinary. Things need to improve quickly if Palace are to be a threat in the first division this season, but based on performances like this, mid table mediocrity rather than a play off position is much more realistic.
