The young Imps travelled to Doncaster looking to get back to winning ways after a narrow defeat away at league leaders Hull City the previous week and emerged with an impressive victory.

Doncaster are renowned for playing controlled possession football, so we knew we would have to be patient, defend well as a team and take our chances when they came.

A lively opening to the game saw Rovers create a couple of half chances but were unable to convert either of them.

The deadlock was broken in the 12th minute when Nathan Adams raced clear of the Rovers' defence, drew the 'keeper and lifted the ball over him into the corner of the net. The lead was extended in the 25th minute when Karl Cunningham collected the ball 30 yards from goal. He cleverly drifted past three Doncaster players before unleashing an unstoppable shot into the bottom corner of the goal.

Doncaster continued to play neat football but were thwarted by a well organised defensive unit superbly marshalled by Connor Fitzpatrick. City had a chance to further extend their lead before half time when Arran Brookbanks was played through by the impressive Adams. He was denied by a fine save from the home 'keeper.

We knew that Doncaster would come and attack us in the second half and they didn't disappoint. However, despite seeing a lot of the ball they lacked a cutting edge in the final third.

City extended their lead in the 52nd minute when neat control and a perfectly weighted pass from Cunningham released Adams who confidently drilled a left foot shot past the diving Rovers 'keeper from just inside the 18 yard box.

The scoring was complete in the 86th minute when Cunningham hooked the ball into net from six yards after Jack Davies had knocked down Jake Gibson's corner.

It was an excellent all-round performance from a young Imps team that featured foui under-16 schoolboys in the starting 11 and finished the game with five under-16s on the pitch.

City U18s: Nick Draper, Dan Coupland, Jack Thomas, Sam Downey (Frazer Cobb 65), Connor Fitzpatrick, Jack Davies (Tom Thacker 85), Sam Turner, Karl Cunningham, Nathan Adams, Arran Brookbanks (James Wilson 53), Jake Gibson. Subs (not used): Rob Brewer & Kerry Nicholas.

report by Grant Brown