Fleetwood Town 0 Doncaster Rovers 0: Strugglers cannot be separated

The Cod Army finally picked up a point after a five-game losing spell with a stalemate against League One’s second-bottom side.

However, their wastefulness in front of goal limited the damage they could do to their opponents’ chances of survival and the boost they could have given to their own prospects.

Town head coach Stephen Crainey named an unchanged starting XI from Tuesday’s narrow defeat at Wycombe Wanderers, while the visitors also came with hopes of stopping the rot after a draw and two defeats.

While the Cod Army had found the net just three times in their five losses, Doncaster came to Highbury as the division’s lowest scorers.

With both sides short on attacking prowess the first half was, somewhat predictably, lacking clear-cut chances and any ruthlessness with the few openings that were created.

Doncaster centre-back Ro-Shaun Williams headed an early corner onto the roof of Kieran O’Hara’s goal.

The Irishman was also well placed to gather Tommy Rowe’s header from Aidan Barlow’s cross, as well as a shot from early substitute Reo Griffiths.

At the other end, Cian Hayes’ jinking run meant he was afforded the space to blast a shot narrowly over.

However, referee Paul Howard did not buy Hayes’ claim that keeper Jonathan Mitchell had got a touch on it.

There was no doubt Mitchell got a firm hand on Town’s best effort of the half, a fizzing Hayes drive from a tight angle 10 minutes before half-time.

Rovers’ best chance also came shortly before the break, a fierce shot by Jordy Hiwula from the edge of the box which O’Hara was equal to.

With the two sides seemingly more reliant on each other’s mistakes than on creating their own chances, the first half ended in deadlock.

At half-time, with the attack in mind, Crainey made changes as Dan Butterworth and Barry Baggley were replaced by Callum Camps and leading scorer Ged Garner.

There was little change to the pattern of play in the second half, however.

Doncaster’s Ben Jackson took on a shot on the run, ignoring available runners either side of them as the visitors broke upfield.

Nevertheless, though he caught his finish sweetly, O’Hara got down well to save.

If anything, Crainey’s men can consider themselves unfortunate not to have snatched victory late on.

Harrison Biggins couldn’t get enough curl on his finish after receiving the ball from Camps.

Toto Nsiala also won the battle for Paddy Lane’s free-kick into the box but Mitchell was equal to his header.

Lane tried grabbing the all-important goal himself with a free-kick 10 minutes from time but Mitchell held it under pressure from a gaggle of onrushing players.

Garner’s wasteful finish five minutes from time then typified their lack of a cutting edge in front of goal.

Fleetwood Town: O’Hara, Johnston, Nsiala, Johnson, Jules, Boyle (J Garner 72), Lane, Baggley (G Garner 46), Biggins, Hayes, Butterworth (Camps 46). Subs not used: Cairns, Clarke, Pilkington, Macadam.

Doncaster Rovers: Mitchell, Knoyle, Williams, Olowu, Barlow, Smith, Galbraith, Rowe, Martin (Jackson 60), Agard (Griffiths 13), Hiwula (Gardner 87). Subs not used: Jones, Younger, Clayton, Dodoo.

Referee: Paul Howard.

Attendance: 3,146.

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