Best rovers lge comeback? One for the statto’s

[normal rules]

Rovers current plight got me thinking. Have there been any really standout Rovers league comebacks, by that I mean bottom three or four mid season, to safety or better come season end?

[drfchound]

Rovers current plight got me thinking. Have there been any really standout Rovers league comebacks, by that I mean bottom three or four mid season, to safety or better come season end?

First season back in the Championship.

[normal rules]

Rovers current plight got me thinking. Have there been any really standout Rovers league comebacks, by that I mean bottom three or four mid season, to safety or better come season end?

First season back in the Championship.

Good shout this .

Doncaster endured a tough start to life in the second tier of English football and stood bottom of the league after 24 games with only 4 league wins. However, Doncaster went on an eight-match unbeaten run that lifted them to mid-table, and finished the season in a secure 14th place, above more fancied sides like Crystal Palace and Derby County.

[DRFCSouth]

We weren't really playing badly that first season in the championship. It's like we suddenly had a light bulb moment we could compete, and started doing the right things.

[normal rules]

I’ve just looked back at that seasons results. There were 6 draws after the amazing first away day at derby, which I was at, before the pivotal 4-2 away win at forest on Boxing Day.
We may have been bottom, but I don’t think we were anywhere near as adrift as we are currently. Rovers had 18points going into the forest game.

[RoversAlias]

All we were missing in 08/09 was a striker that first few months, SOD persisted with Byfield who was past it and Heffernan made all the difference. The rest of the team was superb and showed it once Heffs was back in.

[Chris Black come back]

It’s right that SOD thrashed around for those first few months in the Championship trying to find a forward line that worked, but it was rarely Byfield - he only started three games all season. It was a mix of Taylor, Price and Hayter, with Guy playing wide and in centre. Come December he had settled on Heffernan and the rest as they say was history.

[RedRover45]

It’s right that SOD thrashed around for those first few months in the Championship trying to find a forward line that worked, but it was rarely Byfield - he only started three games all season. It was a mix of Taylor, Price and Hayter, with Guy playing wide and in centre. Come December he had settled on Heffernan and the rest as they say was history.

I don’t think it was the fact he finally settled on Heffernan. I think it was the fact that he hadn’t forgiven him for getting sent off at Southend in the previous season’s playoffs and he didn’t want to play him but eventually had no choice

[BobG]

In about 1975 Rovers were away at Shrewsbury. The weather was chuffing awful. Rovers started the game by conceding 5 goals - to end up on the wrong end of a 5-0 scoreline. Then the Rovers decided to start playing so they scored 4. Scoreline now 5-4. Sadly, the fairy tale didn't quite come true because Shrewsbury, playing the part of the Big Bad Wolf, decided to score 2 more. Final score was 7-4 to Shrewsbury. It wasn't a comeback in the sense intended by the OP, but it was still a helluva comeback anyway.

BobG

[normal rules]

It’s right that SOD thrashed around for those first few months in the Championship trying to find a forward line that worked, but it was rarely Byfield - he only started three games all season. It was a mix of Taylor, Price and Hayter, with Guy playing wide and in centre. Come December he had settled on Heffernan and the rest as they say was history.

I don’t think it was the fact he finally settled on Heffernan. I think it was the fact that he hadn’t forgiven him for getting sent off at Southend in the previous season’s playoffs and he didn’t want to play him but eventually had no choice

I was at that Southend game. The headbutt was very, very late on in the game I recall and perhaps somewhat out of character for Heffs?

[idler]

It was hardly a headbutt though was it. Their foreheads were touching before Heffs childishly pushed his head forward.

[drfchound]

It was hardly a headbutt though was it. Their foreheads were touching before Heffs childishly pushed his head forward.

Correct idler, it was petulant but hardly a headbutt.
I have seen worse on TV games when players have got over excited, that have gone unpunished.

[BillyStubbsTears]

It’s right that SOD thrashed around for those first few months in the Championship trying to find a forward line that worked, but it was rarely Byfield - he only started three games all season. It was a mix of Taylor, Price and Hayter, with Guy playing wide and in centre. Come December he had settled on Heffernan and the rest as they say was history.

I don’t think it was the fact he finally settled on Heffernan. I think it was the fact that he hadn’t forgiven him for getting sent off at Southend in the previous season’s playoffs and he didn’t want to play him but eventually had no choice

It went back way before the Southend match. O'Driscoll, for whatever reason never rated Heffernan. There was never a single word of praise for him and Heffernan was dropped from very early in O'Driscoll's reign while we persisted with players who were nowhere near as good as him and we spluttered and struggled to find consistent form. The nadir of that period was the awful performance at Field Mill in the Cup, where we lumped long balls up to McCammon on the wing and had Guy flailing around impotently up front.

When Heffernan was brought back in after that, he scored 16 goals in 21 games, winning us the JPT which O'Driscoll himself said bought him the time that he might not have been given if he was just judged by the underwhelming league performances. But while he lavishes praise on other players, there was never a word of support for Heffernan.

Very strange relationship, that one.