Seven wins in a row for Doncaster Rovers as Harrogate Town keep alive their play-off hopes as well

Doncaster won a seventh consecutive league game for the first time in 67 years as their unlikely play-off push continued with a 2-1 win over Walsall.

Goals from Joe Ironside and Hakeeb Adelakun saw Grant McCann’s in-form side move four points off League Two’s top seven as their brilliant about-turn continued.

It came despite Walsall having the better of the first half. Both Josh Gordon and Jamille Matt were denied by blocks on the line from Ironside in a goalmouth scramble after Emmanuel Adegboyega hit the underside of the bar.

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Doncaster took the lead on 40 minutes when Ironside raced onto a low ball from Luke Molyneux and fired in first time.

Joe Ironside of Doncaster Rovers scored in their seventh win in a row (Picture: Jess Hornby/Getty Images)Joe Ironside of Doncaster Rovers scored in their seventh win in a row (Picture: Jess Hornby/Getty Images)
Joe Ironside of Doncaster Rovers scored in their seventh win in a row (Picture: Jess Hornby/Getty Images)

The hosts doubled the advantage on 77 minutes when Adelakun met Jamie Sterry’s long diagonal ball and looped a header over Walsall keeper Owen Evans.

Isaac Hutchinson fired straight in from a free kick from a tight angle three minutes into added time but Doncaster were not to be denied.

Harrogate Town kept their League Two play-off hopes alive after midfielder George Thomson’s spectacular strike secured a 1-0 win over Grimsby.

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Thomson’s second-half howitzer earned Harrogate a third straight home triumph – the club’s best sequence since August 2021 – while the Mariners’ EFL status remains in the balance.

Home keeper James Belshaw had earlier raced out of his goal to smother a Gavan Holohan shot just past the quarter-hour mark, while the visitors’ on-loan Coventry striker Justin Obikwu also saw a far-post header flagged offside to the bewilderment of away players and fans alike.

At the other end, an unmarked Anthony O’Connor scuffed a shot wide after being picked out by Thomson’s inswinging corner during first-half stoppage time.

Thomson then opened the scoring four minutes after the interval, rifling a 20-yard shot into the roof of the net having run onto a Levi Sutton pass.

The visitors wasted an excellent chance to secure a precious point when Holohan fired over after being picked out by Danny Rose in the six-yard box.

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