Doncaster Rovers 1 (Forrester 84)
Barnsley 0 (Holgate s/o 90)
Barnsley were second best throughout at Doncaster but almost held on for a point in the South Yorkshire derby. Harry Forrester was the difference with a curling effort that dipped into the top corner to win it for the home side.
The Reds made four changes from their 2-0 victory over Yeovil last week. A suspected injury for Ben Pearson meant a return for Luke Berry, and Milan Lalkovic stepped in for his full debut against his former loan club. Dale Jennings and Lewin Nyatanga returned, with Leroy Lita dropping to the bench and Peter Ramage missing through injury.
After eight minutes, Lewin Nyatanga got the ball caught under his feet on the edge of the Barnsley box and allowed Curtis Main in on goal. Thankfully, his effort was sent the wrong side of the post when one-on-one with Turnbull.
After Dale Jennings' appeal for a penalty was turned down at one end, The Robinson - scorer of the Rovers goal at Oakwell in December - flashed a header over the bar at the other on 14 minutes.
Barnsley's first real chance for a shot at goal came after Alex Kiwomya was tripped when surging towards goal on 22 minutes. Right of centre and 25-yards out, Hourihane could only hit the wall as he tried to bend towards the far corner.
Curtis Main pulled a shot out of the bag from nowhere that Turnbull saw late. The 'keeper did well to get down low to his right and turn away to safety on 28 minutes.
The Reds were struggling to maintain any momentum in attack but came fairly close through Kiwomya but the forward couldn't quite control Lalkovic's delivery into the area on 38 minutes.
The home side were having plenty of joy into the Barnsley half and their passing in between defenders was causing trouble. Thankfully, Donny were lacking that killer touch.
Second half
The home side had two attempts in the opening five minutes of the second period. Turnbull had to make a routine stop from Wellens' low effort but the goalkeeper didn't have to move for Main's sliced drive which almost went out for a throw on 50 minutes.
Dale Jennings was caught in possess which prompted yet another Doncaster attack on 50 minutes. Coppinger was threaded through but his former team-mate, Ross Turnbull, made a smart save at his near post.
Turnbull made a routine save just past the hour to keep Bennett's free-kick out. At the other end, Hourihane just couldn't dig out a shot after winning the ball on the edge of the area before Jennings and Lalkovic both had crosses cleared with the Reds struggling to muster up a threat on Bywater's goal.
Mike Phenix was finally handed his Barnsley debut after joining last year from Telford, with the forward replacing Dale Jennings on 65 minutes.
On 70 minutes the Reds had half a chance to find the net after Kiwomya was set away down the left-hand side. The Chelsea loanee teed up Lalkovic on the edge of the box but he lashes harmlessly into the stand from just inside the area.
As the clock ticked down, Barnsley had managed to slow the tempo laid down to them by Rovers but struggled to create a threat of their own.
On 84 minutes Doncaster got the deserved goal through Harry Forrester. From the corner of the area, his curling effort dipped into the top corner for 1-0 - it had been coming.
The Reds offered little in response as Rovers ran the clock down by keeping the ball in the corner for most of the three minutes of injury time.
An awful match had a band end as Mason Holgate was given his marching orders. It appeared the youngster slipped as he went in for a tackle but the referee produced a straight red.
Teams
Doncaster Rovers: Bywater, Robinson (Middleston 90), Main (Tyson 67), McCullough, Butler, Stevens, Keegan, Wellens, Wabara, Bennett (Forrester 69), Coppinger (c).
Subs: Marosi, McCombe, Wakefield, De Val.
Reds: Turnbull, Berry, Nyatanga, Hourihane (c), Jennings (Phenix 65), M'voto, Smith, Holgate, Lalkovic, Waring (Lita 72), Kiwomya.
Subs: Scowen, Davies, Digby, Williams, Bailey.
Referee: Kevin Wright
