After celebrating his loan extension with Doncaster Rovers earlier this month, it’s back to the grind for Arsenal man Ben Sheaf.
Ben Sheaf’s short-term loan spell with Doncaster Rovers ended in January, but the club decided to keep him on until the end of the season. That initially led to an upturn in form for the Arsenal youngster, who had been struggling a bit.
Now he needs to maintain his consistency though. Doncaster Rovers fansite Into The Empty Net provided us with the following report on the midfielder’s latest showings.
Report from ‘Into The Empty Net’
Consistency has been the key for Ben Sheaf and Doncaster Rovers over the past few weeks, and it showed again in the young midfielder’s two recent performances despite mixed results for the team.
Doncaster travelled to Bristol Rovers looking to continue their winning ways ten days ago, and they did just that with Sheaf playing a pivotal role. A game which saw the visitors dominate possession for large spells and craft a number of chances without finding a way through until the 86th minute.
After a composed, busy display in the heart of the midfield, Sheaf had a big hand in both late goals which gave Darren Moore’s side victory. First, a lovely ten-pass sequence from back to front saw Sheaf play a deft through ball to flummox the Bristol midfield and set on Brad Halliday, who duly put Ben Whiteman in beyond the defence to finish the move off with the opener.
Then, in injury time, Sheaf had the vision to send a perfectly weighted lobbed through ball bypassing the Bristol defence to James Coppinger on the left-hand side, and his cutback found Rakish Bingham who made it 2-0.
Following that game-altering performance, Sheaf again started in midfield at home to Coventry this past weekend. However, the team’s passing struggled to get going and both Sheaf and Ben Whiteman were stifled by their opposition, not helped by continual errors in the middle of the park.
There is, unfortunately, a case to be made for Sheaf being at fault for Coventry’s winning goal, as a long punt forward from the goalkeeper saw Sheaf caught out and he failed to track his man. Attacking midfielder Jordan Shipley ran on into the pocket of space in front of the defence and fired into the far corner from 25 yards.
Sheaf did set up Niall Ennis for what could have been the equaliser with a cushioned header at the back post from a corner, but the striker was unable to turn the ball home. This was his main attacking contribution in the game, as he was largely tasked with defensive duties particularly as support for left-back Reece James against Coventry’s roving wing back Dominic Hyam.
Coventry had a great chance to double their lead in the second half and Sheaf was the culprit here too. Callum O’Hare took the ball 30 yards from goal and evaded Sheaf’s attempted slide tackle, giving him the room to run on and strike a shot off the post.
A mixed bag for Sheaf in these two games in terms of his individual performances, but the overall team display did not help his cause against Coventry.
The Arsenal loanee will have a chance to put it right in front of the cameras this week as Doncaster face Sunderland on Friday night, live on Sky.