Darren Moore pleased as Doncaster Rovers get another winning run-out in friendly at Bradford City
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A Fejiri Okenabirhie brace plus goals from Jason Lokilo and James Coppinger saw Rovers triumph 4-3 at Valley Parade in their second friendly of their summer programme.
With no matches played for more than five months due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Moore targeted his side’s first two friendlies as opportunities to shake off rustiness.
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Hide Ad“I thought it was another really good run out,” Moore said. “I’m really pleased with it.
“We looked upon the two games with Scunthorpe and Bradford, after five months off due to Covid, as ones where we could mix up teams and get 45 minutes of work into the players on both occasions. We’ve done that.
“They’ve come through both of them unscathed and had good run-outs.
“It’s given us a good idea of where the senior pros are at fitness-wise and the young players will have got an idea of the step-up.
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Hide Ad“And it was a chance to have a look at some of the trialists and make decisions on them going forward.
“It’s been a good all round work out so far as we start to build towards the start of the season which we know will come sooner than what we thought.”
Moore says the expectations in friendlies will increase from now on as Rovers scale up their preparations for the first match of the season, which will be the Carabao Cup tie against Blackburn Rovers.
Tuesday’s behind-closed-doors friendly saw Rovers take a first half lead when Lokilo fired home from the edge of the box.
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Hide AdBradford turned the tables after the break with goals from Billy Clarke and Kurtis Guthrie.
Okenabirhie equalised, only for Lee Novak to put the Bantams back ahead.
It was Coppinger who took centre stage in the late stages. First he chipped the goalkeeper to level the scores before a mazy run into the box saw him brought down, with Okenabirhie scoring from the spot.
Moore confirmed that Reece James was not risked in the game having suffered a slight injury in training.
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Hide AdHe said: “Reece had a little bit of a knock in training yesterday so we pulled him out of the game. We’re hopeful he’ll be ready for the weekend.”
Rovers (first half): Jones, Halliday, Anderson, Blythe, Amos, Whiteman, Ravenhill, Lokilo, Trialist, Trialist, Trialist.
Rovers (second half): Trialist, Greaves, Wright, Horton, Amos (Blythe 64), Hasani, Trialist, Taylor, Coppinger, Gomes, Okenabirhie.