Weak at the back, lacklustre in attack: Doncaster Rovers reach new low with Kidderminster Harriers cup exit

Doncaster Rovers’ season reached a new low at the weekend when they were dumped out of the FA Cup by National League outfit Kidderminster Harriers in the first round of the competition.

The newly-promoted fifth-tier side, who play two divisions below Rovers, took a surprise lead in the 22nd minute through Lewis Walker and never looked back from that point onwards, doubling and later tripling their lead through Maziar Kouhyar and David Davis, in a harrowing afternoon for Grant McCann and his team.

It’s the South Yorkshire side’s earliest exit from the competition in four years and is the first time that Rovers have ever exited the competition this early during McCann’s two stints in the dugout.

Here are the talking points from a hugely underwhelming performance at Aggborough Stadium.

A new FA Cup low for Doncaster Rovers

Prior to Saturday, Doncaster Rovers had only ever lost to non-league opposition as an EFL club on six occasions when competing in the FA Cup.

These came against Mexborough Town (1904), Carlisle Utd (1927), Wigan Athletic (1965), Scarborough (2003), Exeter City (2004) and Kings Lynn (2022), with all but the latter being played away from home.

However, Saturday’s 3-0 defeat at Kidderminster marks the heaviest defeat of the lot against non-league opposition.

Take nothing away from Paul Wootton’s side, who were good value for the victory, showing terrific desire and a willingness to fight for every ball throughout the contest, but this is not a team expected to be competing for promotion into the Football League, infact it’s one without a win in eight National League matches that are acclimatising to a new division after winning promotion last term.

A weak defensive performance

When asked to explain what went wrong in last Saturday’s defeat, Grant McCann claimed that his side failed to do the basics correctly from a defensive standpoint.

“Look we deservedly got beat,” McCann said.

“When you play non-league teams, National League teams or any team sort of below you, and to be honest with you, any game, you have to do the basics right.

“They were better than us. They did the basics in the dark parts of football. They were so superior to us.”

One of the most alarming aspects of the performance was Doncaster’s failure to get to grips with Lewis Walker. The Kidderminster forward notably opened the scoring and frequently found space in behind centre-backs Jay McGrath and Neill Byrne, particularly in the first-half.

He had a fair few opportunities to get on the scoresheet again in the first 45 and ultimately proved to be the man that assisted the home side’s second goal before the stroke of half-time.

Walker boasts a record of seven goal in 14 National League appearances and was earmarked from the start as one to watch by McCann.

He added: “We never committed to the plan. We didn't want their centre-backs just chipping balls into Walker. We know he's physically good, but we didn't press, we didn't jump in with any intensity.

“When we did press, it was a half-job. When the ball went over our heads, we didn't recover quickly enough to get around the seconds.”

McCann added: “We conceded two of the sloppiest goals you've ever seen.”

It now means Rovers have conceded 13 times in the space of four matches across all competitions, with the 4-1 win at Rochdale in the EFL Trophy failing to paper off the cracks of a 3-1 loss to Luton Town and a humiliating 6-1 loss to MK Dons on Halloween.

A lacklustre attacking display

Doncaster Rovers have had a very tough time defensively which has been well documented, but they are also not offering enough from an attacking point of view.

Against Kidderminster for example, Rovers only really had one clear-cut opportunity during the match with Jordan Thomas choosing to try and unsuccessfully square the ball across goal to Alfie May as opposed to taking the shot himself.

To create so little against a side two divisions below is alarming to say the least, particularly when considering the calibre of players that Rovers have from an attacking perspective.

The likes of Owen Bailey, Isaac Hutchinson and Jordan Thomas scored a combined 44 goals between them last season, while that's not even factoring in Alfie May, who boasts a record of 99 career goals in League One throughout spells with Cheltenham, Charlton and Birmingham City among others before his loan move this summer.

McCann has always been someone that prides himself on having a team that plays with freedom and excitement, but at this moment his side are struggling to create opportunities on a frequent basis, particularly once they go a goal behind.

Fans will hope that new signing James Collins can offer a fresh leash of life to the attack in the weeks to come.