Doncaster Rovers are in the hat for the FA Cup fifth round for the first time in 63 years as they beat League Two side Oldham Athletic.
Pete Wild’s starting eleven consisted of Iversen, Hamer, Clarke ©, Edmundson, Nepomuceno, Lang, Sylla, Missilou, Branger-Engone, Baxter, O’Grady.
Early on, John Marquis took the ball around Daniel Iversen and his shot was creeping over the line, but Peter Clarke managed to produce a moment of brilliance and get back and clear it off the line.
In the second half, the impressive Ben Whiteman took a touch before unleashing a powerful strike from 20 yards out and it deflected past Daniel Iversen and into the back of the net to hand the hosts the lead (1-0).
Latics found an equaliser, Gevaro Nepomuceno’s freekick hit the Doncaster Rovers wall, but the ball fell to captain Peter Clarke who tapped it into an empty net to send the away fans into bedlam (1-1).
But Ben Whiteman won it for Doncaster Rovers with a 90th-minute penalty, given for handball after the referee’s assistants bowed down to the pressure from Doncaster Rovers moaning (2-1).
Latics captain Clarke was then sent off in the third minute of injury time, a straight red card for putting him hand of Doncaster Rovers goalkeeper Marko Marosi back. Yes, that’s apparently a bookable offence according to Peter Bankes.
Thank you to the 3,796 @OfficialOAFC fans who made the trip to @drfc_official today. I hope you all have a safe journey home #OAFC #DONOLD #FACup pic.twitter.com/StJdlbKFRk
— DRFC Away (@drfc_away) January 26, 2019
Oldham Athletic caretaker manager Pete Wild told BBC Sport: “I’ve seen it back now. It’s not a pen. As clear as day, it’s not a pen. But that’s the weird and wonderful world of officials. Let’s just leave it there.”
“And their keeper has got Peter Clarke sent off by rolling around with his antics, which, at this level, is poor.”
“They’ve had a lot of chances. They’re always going to score one of them and they did. We stayed resilient, got a goal of our own and then it could go either way.”
“But it’s disappointing that a controversial decision has won the game. We’ve enjoyed this competition and had some good days out but I’m sure we all want some good days out in the league now.”
Here is how Oldham Athletic fans reacted to 2-1 defeat away at Doncaster Rovers in the FA Cup –
Deserved a replay today. Wasn’t a penalty and should have been a foul on Missilou before it got to that anyway. #oafc #robbed
— Dave Watt (@davewattuk) January 26, 2019
Some poor performances today though #oafc
— Bradley Knowles (@BradleyKnowles1) January 26, 2019
Always a great effort to get back into a game late. Shame about the ending. Need to reconnect with my team #OAFC
— Neil Greenwood (@NGFC83) January 26, 2019
https://twitter.com/J_Burston/status/1089214994502291456
Cant just turn up for one half and expect to win a football match. Lads did alright. Shame though cos they were there for the taking if we had that bit more quality #oafc
— Tom Butterworth (@tom_db) January 26, 2019
