A cold but clear evening greeted our visitors, Brighton & Hove Albion, for tonight's game at the Keepmoat Stadium, which they visit for the first time. For the Rovers, injuries keep out Graeme Lee, Paul Heffernan, Gareth Roberts, Jason Price and Brian Stock. Mark Wilson and Mark McCammon start in tonight's game, with Kevin Horlock taking a place among the substitutes on the bench, hoping no doubt for his first taste of first team action for some considerable time. He received a good reception from the fans. The Rovers and Brighton have identical records in the League but the Rovers take the last play-off position by dint of a single goal. This would indicate an even and good game in the offing. The Rovers defended the South Stand end in the first half. For a mid-week game, the visitors had brought a good following.

The opening ten minutes saw both teams sussing each other out, with a corner to Brighton being the only thing of note. On 11 minutes, the home team won successive corners and from the second one Woods played  a 1-2 with O'Connor before firing into the side netting. Minutes later, from a free kick to the right of goal about 25 yards out, Woods put over the bar. The match had not got going yet and became more and more scrappy as the halfway mark of the half came up. Savage, for the Seagulls, shot on the turn from the edge of the penalty area but was wide and Cox fired over from a 30 yards free kick. At the other end a Woods free kick caused problems for the visiting defence before being put out or a corner. Just before half-time the Rovers had to mak a substituion, Paul Green coming on for McDaid, who had suffered a nasty knock earlier which had resulted in Fraser being booked. The break came with neither side looking likely to score, the goalkeepers not having been troubled unduly.

The Rovers came out for the second half and made their intentions clear by attacking from the kick-off but only won successive corners which came to nothing. Brighton then got into the game with a corner followed minutes later with a shot by Richards fom 30 yards easily saved by Sullivan. After 56 minutes Forster went down in the penalty under challenge by Greer but he referee waved away any suggestion of a penalty. Continuing to attack Brighton won a corner two minutes later from which Lynch's header was blocked on the line by Green and Sullivan then dropped on the loose ball. Cox then fired over from 25 yards. Past the hour mark and Kuipers, the Brighton keeper, found himself in trouble when he carried the ball out of his area and was booked. The free kick caused problems for the Brighton defence before being put out for a throw-in near the corner flag on the Rovers right. McCammon, on the near post, headed on and Guy headed down, with Kuipers dropping on the ball in front of his goal-line. In the 79th minute, a corner from the Brighton left was met by Hammond at the far post but his downward header was saved by Sullivan at the foot of the post. A minute later and Coppinger, for the Rovers, put over a great cross for McCammon but his header went over the bar. As the clock ran down both sides tried hard for the winning goal but it was a case of both teams cancelling each other out. Certainly Brighton will go home the happier, having won a point but the teams were so well matched that the game was practically a non-event.

Teams - ROVERS - Neil Sullivan; James O'Connor, Gordon Greer, Adam Lockwood, Sean McDaid; Richie Wellens, Mark Wilson, Martin Woods; Lewis Guy, Mark McCammon, James Hayter.

Subs used - Paul Green for McDaid 42 mins; James Coppinger for Hayter 74 mins; Craig Nelthorpe for Guy 81 mins;

Subs not used - Kevin Horlock, Matt Noble,

Cautions - Hayter, Lockwood,

Brighton & H.A. - Michel Kuipers; Andy Whing, Joel Lynch, Adam El-Abd, Dean Cox, Dean Hammond, Tommy Fraser, David Martot, Matt Richards, Bas Savage, Nicky Forster

Subs used - Doug Loft for Marot 52 mins; Alex Revell for Forster 87 mins;

Subs not used - , Guy Butters, Paul Reid, Jake Robinson,

Cautions - Fraser, Kuipers,