I couldn't get to sleep on the night of Wednesday 12th August 2009. It was strange. I had one of those feelings where I had failed to do something important during the course of the day and was going to regret it. But I spent what felt like hours racking my brain, but I honestly couldn't remember what it was.
Then I remembered something. But even then I wasn't sure if it was what I was apparantly missing. The Carling Cup Second Round Draw had taken place shortly before I went to bed. I knew we had been un-seeded, but I had thought we would draw one of the 'non-events' left in the competition. It was too earlier for any potential Doncaster Rovers giant killing surely?
It was approximately 1am on the morning of the 13th - sounds quite unlucky if you ask some people - that I turned on the television. I looked on teletext for the draw, and there it was - the first line - Tottenham Hotspur at home.
The memories of the 2005 Cup run, at that point came flooding back. I remembered fairly quickly that it was North London opposition that had denied us a place (see Part I)in the semi-finals of the competition, and it looked like it was time for some sort of revenge against the Cockneys.
Doncaster's fame in recent years had been a lot to thank with league form - three promotions in a five year spell - but cup runs have made way for disappointing finishes in non-knockout competition.
I remember, just before the season concluded, watching a video of Ian Snodin's Doncaster winning the Conference Cup in 1999. It was the start of something special, however Snodin's league form eventually paid the price for the pressure at Belle Vue. Unfortunately, due to my age, I did not attend that night.
For me, my love for cup competitions began in the Sheffield and Hallamshire Senior Cup, a competition many will never have heard of. Basically, if your a non-league side and in the Sheffield-area, you compete in this competition.
I started watching the club in when Steve Wignall was the manager, and although league form was a concern, as we were continually tipped for promotion back to the football league, the competition meant we were always a good bet to finish each season with a trophy in a cabinet. Doncaster were victorious in finals at Hillsbrough in 00-01 and 01-02. The Vikings also reached the final in 02-03, but when the Conference play-offs took centre stage that summer, the cup final was ignored, as Rovers lost out to Frickley. Thankfully it was worthwhile as Rovers won promotion at Stoke's Brittania Stadium after a 3-2 victory over Dagenham and Redbridge.
My next memory of cup football, and how special these occasions can be, was the 05-06 Carling Cup. Doncaster took out Wrexham in the first round in August 2005; fans didn't realise it at the time but it was the start of something very special. The draw shook up a potential upset, Manchester City at Belle Vue. Certainly a difficult tie, but Doncaster's ambitious club nature gave them the advantage. Dave Penney started with an attacking side, and it did exceptionally well. Despite losing goalkeeper Andy Warrington to injury midway through extra time, while trailing 1-0, Doncaster managed to grab an equaliser and send it to penalties.
It was that shootout when Jan Budtz made his name. Three fantastic saves meant Rovers took a place in the third round, but perhaps just as importantly, City were out. It was a short-lived fame for Budtz, who was released by Hartlepool United at the end of last season.
Doncaster were hoping for another potential giant killing in the next round. Tragically, or perhaps fortunately, the draw provided a dissapointing home tie with Gillingham. Rovers were victorious in a low-key fixture. It finished 2-0 in favour of the South Yorkshire side.
Doncaster were, however, rewarded for their efforts in the next round, as Midlanders Aston Villa ventured into the scary prospect of meeting a Doncaster side in a rich vein of form. The Reds had won all three of their league games in November, and any Villa fans expecting a whitewash, were hughly mistaken. David O'Leary's side had managed to find themselves in the middle of a relegation battle in the Premier League, and a match that looked to prove a starting point for a good run that would propell the Villians from safety, wasn't to happen.
It's amongst the finist performances I have witnessed as a follower of the Hooped Warriors, and there are very few performances capable of matching that night in 2005. Over 10,000 people witnessed that night at Belle Vue, whoever didn't go, as they will understand now, missed out on a great night.
Twenty minutes in Villa fans should have realised it was not going to be their night, when Liam Ridgewell used his hands to control the ball in his own penalty area, and a spot kick was the result. Michael McIndoe, from it, opened the scoring.
Villa didn't give up immediately, Gareth Barry and co. kept the score low and managed to reach half time with just the one goal seperating the sides, and it was over to the former Arsenal defender, O'Leary to inspire his visiting side to victory.
It clearly didn't. Doncaster, just eight minutes after the restart, doubled their lead. Lewis Guy's through ball found Paul Heffernan, and the Irishman calmly sidefooted the ball into the back of the net.
Doncaster had seen just glipses of Irishman Sean Thornton's potential prior to that game, but it was his first, and only, ninety minutes of brilliance in the Rovers shirt. He rounded off the rout with a spectacular goal, with just twelve minutes to do. It was a fantastic strike from the bottom corner, that found the top corner with an unstoppable shot. It was a beauty.
Tragically that was the last of the big guns taken out under the Doncaster floodlights, despite adding the Johnstone's Paint Trophy to their cabinet in 2007, Doncaster have met Bolton and Aston Villa in FA Cup matches in recent years, but are yet to capture their form from that spectacular run in 2005.
Bring on the Spurs.
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