Thornhill Trojans go out to Doncaster despite battling effort in Betfred Challenge Cup tie

Thornhill Trojans left the Eco-Power Stadium with heads held high despite going out of the Betfred Challenge Cup at the second round stage against professional outfit Doncaster.
Thornhill Trojans tested Doncaster before going out of the Betfred Challenge Cup.Thornhill Trojans tested Doncaster before going out of the Betfred Challenge Cup.
Thornhill Trojans tested Doncaster before going out of the Betfred Challenge Cup.

The Trojans did not quite get as close to beating the League One Dons as they did the last time the two teams met in the competition, but put up a battling effort in losing 24-6.

Former Dewsbury Rams half-back Ben Johnston got the home team off to a flying start when he found space to cross for the opening try on six minutes, with Connor Robinson converting.

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Undaunted, Thornhill dug in and kept themselves in the game. They thought they had scored as forward Sam Ratcliffe raced away to get the ball down over the line only to see his effort ruled out for offside.

But soon after Misi Taulapapa produced a strong run for the Dons and went over for his side's second try, which was converted by Robinson to make it 12-0 at half-time.

The Trojans stepped up the pressure at the start of the second half, but were met by good defence from their opponents.

The defensive effort was summed up as Thornhill were held up on the line three times.

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After withstanding the onslaught, the home team went back on attack and scored their third try as Johnston went on a fine run before offloading to send Aaron York over.

Another Dons try followed when Greg Burns went over from close range and with Robinson converting again they led 24-0.

The hosts went down to 12 as Travis Corrion was sin-binned for a high tackle with 15 minutes to go and the Trojans took advantage of their extra man to finally get the score their efforts had deserved.

Harry Woollard chased his own kick down the field and got to the ball to give some cheer to a good contingent of away fans who made the journey to South Yorkshire. Joel Gibson added the conversion.

The last minute saw Sam Ratcliffe sent off for a high tackle with Doncaster' s Zac Braham sin-binned for his reaction to the challenge.