More home misery for Latics

GOAL . . . Rhys Murphy

ATHLETIC 1, DONCASTER 2

Check out Matthew Chambers' full match report

TWO Andy Williams goals put paid to Athletic's hopes of ending a miserable 2015 on a high.

The Doncaster striker netted twice in the opening half, taking advantage of some desperately poor defending.

Athletic hit back in the second half through a goal from Rhys Murphy, who later missed a glorious opportunity to level the game.

But David Dunn's side sunk to a fourth straight league defeat.

Athletic started the game brightly but fell behind after 12 minutes, when Williams was allowed to take down a free-kick from deep inside the box. His turns was neat and the finish, with the outside of his right foot, superb.

Rovers hit a post two minutes later through a shot by Conor Grant and though Athletic recovered well, with Mike Jones forcing a good header from Stuckmann with a header, Rovers were creating plenty.

Williams turned and shot over before seeing his header pushed out by David Cornell.

But the striker doubled his tally on half-time when Harry Middleton squeezed his way through poor defending to cross, Cornell only tipping the ball into Williams' path. His volley was weak but it trickled into the goal off a post.

Murphy forced another save from Stuckmann right on half-time but Athletic were left with a mountain to climb.

Cedric Evina forced a block from Dieng and substitute Cameron Dummigan fired wide at the other end.

Murphy halved the deficit with a close-range finish on 74 minutes, stabbing home from close in after Mark Yeates had poked a shot in at goal initially.

And deep into five minutes of added time, Murphy wasted a great chance to level when heading way over from a superb Yeates cross.