Doncaster Rovers player verdicts after suffering first friendly defeat to Wolves

Doncaster Rovers fell to a 2-0 friendly defeat against Championship side Wolves on Wednesday night.

Rovers held out for more than 80 minutes against stern opposition only to conceded twice in the latter stages. The first half was a goalless affair shorn of much action in truth. Tommy Simkin made a bright early save to deny Tom Edozie after an enterprising run.

Despite the Championship side bossing most of the ball Rovers were restricting them to precious little by way of attempts. Tommy Doyle saw a free-kick touched behind whilst it was the hosts who fashioned the last half-chance before the interval: Leon Ayinde worked his way into the box and saw his hopeful centre deflected and loop up into the arms of Wolves stopper Dan Bentley.

The visitors changed their entire outfield for the second half and one of those alterations, Tawanda Chirewa, was soon testing the reflexes of Simkin who was alert to the danger as Wolves tried to unpick the Rovers defence.

The Stoke loanee was proving to be a busy man, with his next save - coming after the hosts changed five of their outfield players - arguably the best of the lot as he stuck out an instinctive right hand to keep Chirewa at bay again.

It was then the hosts' turn to have a go as Harry Clifton did well to press his opposite number and feed Hakeeb Adelakun whose well-struck effort was saved by Dan Bentley. The same pair then had another duel moments later as Adelakun pounced on a loose backpass only for Bentley to race out of his goal and sniff out the danger.

The game was opening up now and Simkin again was at his sharpest to keep away a fiercely-struck sidefooted shot by Pedro Lima. But he was powerless to stop Fer Lopez from finding the bottom corner after Rovers overdid it when playing out from a goal kick.

Sadly, minutes later Simkin was at fault when he up-ended Chirewa in the box after Rovers again failed to clear their lines. The resulting penalty was tucked away by Chirewa to condemn Rovers to a first setback in pre-season.

Here's our verdict on the Rovers players tonight:

Tommy Simkin - alert early doors to keep out Gomes' fierce effort and never let up with save after save after save. Terrific performance.

Jamie Sterry - Did well up against a lively, fluid Wolves forward line. Not much chance to go forward.

Sean Grehan - Not overly troubled during his time on the pitch. Some nice diagonal balls

Neill Byrne - Veteran fared ok during his time on the pitch, like Grehan keeping Wolves' forwards relatively quiet.

Jack Senior - had a proper ding-dong with his opposite man, and Rodrigo Gomes will have known he was in for a tough night early on.

George Broadbent - some good bits of interception work with one particularly well-timed sliding tackle just before half-time with a Wolves attacker firmly stopped in his tracks

Owen Bailey - excellent early bit of pressing to forge a chance for the hosts

Jordan Thomas - Debutant showed flashes of promise and cute turns and touches

Isaac Hutchinson - Another who shone in small bursts.

Leon Ayinde - Deployed on his usual left-hand side after the weekend moonlighting as a striker. Restricted to only minimal involvement but some glimpses.

Brandon Hanlan - back up in his more recognised central-forward position. Gave as good as he got to Wolves' physical bunch of defenders

Substitutes:

Bayley McCann - A half-time change, he showed willing down the left

Hakeeb Adelakun - Had Rovers' best chances, denied on two occasions by Dan Bentley

Jay McGrath - involved in an over-complicated move that led to Wolves' cheap opener

Tom Nixon - So-so showing. A tough ask to come into the game against such high-level opposition

Darren Robinson - nothing particularly of note

Harry Clifton - a good bit of pressing led to best chance of the night, feeding Adelakun

James Husband - A few good moments where he covered and tracked his man well

Kasper Williams - On late alongside McGrath in the heart of defence

Glenn Middleton - An eye-raiser when the transfer-listed Scot was brought on for the final 20 minutes

Sam Straughan-Brown - Brought on in the latter stages