We have reverted to the typical Donny mentality........the teams we should beat at home we will, everything else we lose (the Gateshead game was a one-off).....which equals predictable....which equals unexciting.
The York game was the one upset thus far and a very enjoyable one at that.
I had the Swinton game down as a Donny win......so that's what we should expect....but we don't seem to have kicked on much of late....so once again we could get turned over.
I hope not......because if we can't compete with the team one above us at home....something's wrong.
COYD.

I think this team is getting there!
We were only narrowly beaten by Workington, unluckyly too, in my opinion.
This season we have had to start from scratch and i think that next season will see the benefits of the hard work put in now.

Think we have a few unavailable due to injuries etc , but am hopeful we can get the 3 points on Sunday .

Score updates for todays game can be as as usual from: www.comeonlineyoudons.co.uk

Score updates for todays game can be as as usual from: www.comeonlineyoudons.co.uk

Handicap betting ... Dons +10pts Ladbrokes 10/11 (only +8pts elsewhere).

Match betting ... Dons 11/4 Ladbrokes (5/2 or worse elsewhere).

Well done today lads a big effort against some big Swinton forwards .

Didn't play on either ... wish I had.

Well done lads good defensive display against a big set of forwards and some half decent halfbacks.

Positives:-
We won.
We nilled the other side, a rarity.
We denied them a bonus point.
We did not collapse in the second half.
The weather was lovely (nothing to do with the Dons).

Negatives:-
Our conversion kicking was sh/te.
We played some dumb rugby at times.
Examples:-
Getting pushed into touch twice when there was no need to go anywhere near the touchline.
Not taking two certain points at 16-0 up and then infringing on the second tackle.
Not targetting Hulse and Holroyd enough by attacking on our right via Leaf, who could have had a bagfull. Instead we persisted down our left wing and got NOTHING.
I suppose I am nitpicking a bit.
I thought Swinton let us off the hook by dropping the ball 5 or 6 times.
Wasn't Holroyd useless?
All in all it was a pleasure to see us win.
COYD.

Its not the first time that Holroyd has spent a game at the Keepmoat just wandering round all the time, then hiding behind other players when the poop hits the fan.

There are positives to take, but Swintons heads had dropped after the second try, and they were definitely there for the taking.

I thought we did well today. We carried on from where we left off second half at Worky. Better performances all over the pitch, well done lads!! Swinton though were masters of their own downfall.Terrible discipline and ball control and in my opinion too many big name players who werent interested.

SO has picked up on something that we were on about during the game and thats attacking down the right.We all know GH defends out there and we never tested him, only a couple of times and we scored both times. The worst match for the no right hand side attack was up at Gateshead.Do we do this on purpose or is it coached into the lads? I dont know?

Oh, I forgot to mention it.
Not because we won....but I thought the ref was brilliant today.
He picked up on all sorts, and in particular forward passes, which is something most refs can't be d with and end up spoiling games.
Well done the ref!

And one other thing......don't we look slimmed down and fit?
I know Bovill wasn't playing, but we looked mean and lean.
I think the only player who looked to be letting himself down and could do with shedding a stone was one of our half-backs.

well done the lads - can anyone tell me what happened to David Bates ? is he injured ?

Yeah Bates is injured at the mo, (along with Ellery, Johnson and Bovill we have 4 of our biggest props to come back...may explain why we were looking skinnier)

All the RL press are stating Kyle Kesik scored the first try , sure it was Ryan Steen .

any thoughts ?

I got it as Steen, although if you talk to Kesik, he said that he scored it.

I have been cynical of late, but have to say a good performance in very hot conditions.
I thought we might have struggled to handle the big Swinton pack, but the players muscled up well.
As has been mentioned above still too many naive mistakes, especially on the left side, but the positives far outweigh the negatives. Agree the ref had a good game which makes a change.

Yep.

I've often been cynical of referees and the decisions that they make, but yesterday, I thought that Mr Leahy had a good game, and when he spoke to either team at an infringement, he made sure it was understood.

I thought it was Kesik at the time, he said afterwards it was him too

blimey ! a Donny fan who has a nice word to say about the ref ! a rare species indeed

I too thought it was Kesik (but could easily be wrong).

I thought that he controlled the game in a very sensible manner. He could have penalised both teams many times for offside but appeared to take the view that if effort was being made to get back (in those conditions) then that was good enough.

Ryan Steen for the first try .

I also have to agree that the ref was far better than any other ref we have seen this year at our level.

Paul Smith has resigned as Swinton player/coach todat 25/5/10.