Doncaster Rovers 1 - 0 Grimsby Town: In-form Liam Mandeville nets winner for Doncaster

Posted Saturday, December 17, 2016 by PA

Liam Mandeville celebrated his EFL Young Player of the Month award with a stunning free-kick to send Doncaster on their way to a 1-0 victory over Grimsby.

Mandeville curled a superb dead ball from close to 30 yards, putting the ball out of reach of Town goalkeeper James McKeown with only three minutes on the clock.

It gave confident Doncaster, who moved a point clear at the top of Sky Bet League Two ahead of the 3pm kick-offs, a foothold in the game and they were fully in control of the first half.

But it was the visitors - backed by more than 4,000 travelling supporters - who arguably had the better chances.

Danny Collins rose unchallenged to meet Danny Andrew's fine free-kick but flicked his header wide.

And Tom Bolarinwa found the side-netting via a deflection in first half stoppage-time.

Grimsby were reinvigorated after the break but struggled to craft anything more than half chances.

Mandeville almost repeated his free-kick heroics from 25 yards but his effort was met with a fine save from McKeown.

The visitors nearly snatched an equaliser with the last kick of the game when substitute Dan Jones flashed the ball across the face of goal with James Berrett inches away from turning it home at the far post.