Five talking points as Doncaster Rovers go down to league leaders Leyton Orient

Rovers edged the first 45 minutes in east London and forced their opponents into a tactical switch after the break, which helped tip the scales in their favour.

Despite matching their opponents Doncaster failed to register an effort on goal at Brisbane Road and Theo Archibald grabbed the winning goal with a stunning 25-yard volley on 68 minutes

Settled XI

Schofield named the same side for the third game running against Leyton Orient.

Looking down the starting XI, there wasn’t a weak link in sight.

Several players in there are in form and yesterday was far from an off day for plenty of them. This defeat doesn’t need to be anything more than a bump in the road.

Depth needed

On the flip side to the above, the current bench options just aren’t doing it. Yes, Rovers have some injuries, but they are struggling with a lack of strength in depth.

Neither Max Woltman or Kieran Agard impacted the game from the bench yesterday and not for the first time.

Doncaster would benefit from new recruits.

Miller’s drought

He was praised for his performance against Carlisle but was below par against Orient.

Granted, he was playing against the best defence in the division, but Miller never looked particularly threatening and has now gone seven games without a goal.

He twice went 11 matches without scoring last term, so his longest drought in a Doncaster shirt may not be over yet.

Defensive solidity

On the whole, there can be few complaints about how Doncaster defended against Orient. They held their own, minus from the goal.

Aside from that, however, Leyton Orient barely created a clear-cut chance.

But with no efforts on target, Rovers let themselves down in attack, not defence, on this occasion.

A missed opportunity

Doncaster would have moved up to fourth with a win, which is remarkable given the up-and-down nature of their season.

They remain one point outside of the top seven, so they haven’t much lost ground on where they were, only league position.

While the three sides in the automatic promotion spots have gained further ground, the play-offs are still within touching distance with 21 games to go and 63 points still to play for.