Doncaster vs Crystal Palace: Jeffrey Schlupp and Max Meyer secure FA Cup quarter-final for Eagles

Roy Hodgson's side cruised to victory at the Keepmoat Stadium with the cup now wide open and just six Premier League teams set to make the quarter-final draw

So much for this season’s FA Cup being the most open for years. It might not quite be all the anticipated big beasts assembling at the sharp end of the competition, but the top flight will be well represented nevertheless, and Crystal Palace will be one of six Premier League teams to contest a place in the last four when the quarter-finals are staged next month.

Doncaster were true to the word of their manager Grant McCann, who had promised that his players would have a go at opponents two divisions above them in the football foodchain as they attempted to progress to the sixth round for the first time in the South Yorkshire club’s 140-year history.

However, while making for an encounter that was more than easy on the eye, their laudable front foot policy left them vulnerable on the counter attack. It was a modus operandi at which Palace, even without the suspended Wilfried Zaha, excelled to progress to the last eight for the first time since they were losing finalists to Manchester United three years ago.

Victory was sewn-up by the interval thanks to goals to bookend the first-half from Jeffrey Schlupp and Max Meyer, the six changes made by Roy Hodgson proving little impediment to what proved to be a relatively comfortable afternoon for the visitors, who after Fulham, become the second club guided to the last eight of the FA Cup by the former England manager.

Backed vociferously by a near full-house, Doncaster started with pace, purpose and energy, but it took just eight minutes to dent the boisterous atmosphere as Palace grabbed a lead they were never to relinquish with their first real foray into enemy territory.

Skipper Luka Milivojevic launched the move by smartly intercepting the ball in midfield, before swapping passes for Patrick van Aanholt to release Schlupp down the left. As defenders stood off, the midfielder needed little encouragement to surge into the area and find the bottom corner with a crisp left foot angled drive for his fifth goal of the season, one which took a minimal deflection off the back-tracking Paul Downing on its way past Marko Marosi.

Rovers hung in after such an early body-blow, and retained hope of a leveller by forcing half a dozen corners, but unfortunately the vast majority of them failed to beat the first defender, a major failing against opponents who have looked vulnerable at set-pieces this season.

Jeffrey Schlupp celebrates opening the scoring for Crystal Palace (AFP/Getty)

Michy Batshuayi, making his full debut on loan from Chelsea, should have done better with an unchallenged close-range header from a corner which the forward directed at John Marquis, and an increasingly-extended Doncaster rearguard found Mike Dean – a referee who never knowingly turns down an opportunity to award a penalty with theatrical flourish – in a seemingly benevolent mood when Downing clearly handled inside the area as the defender slid in to block a low centre from van Aanholt.

The second goal duly arrived in first-half stoppage time, with the contest’s outstanding performer Milivojevic again instrumental, courtesy of a perfectly weighted lofted pass into the area which Andros Townsend headed invitingly into the six-yard box for Meyer to steal in between two would-be markers to apply a scruffy finishing touch. It left Rovers with a mountain to climb, a rescue mission they rarely looked like mounting as their energy levels unsurprisingly dipped after the break, and only a woeful first touch late on from Batshuayi prevented the Belgian from securing his side’s third goal.

To their credit, Doncaster stuck to their task manfully, and weren’t without their chances, but they failed to score in their most sustained period of pressure at the outset of the second period. Ben Whiteman’s swerving effort from long range forced Wayne Hennessey into a messy save, with Alfie May heading horribly over form the ensuing corner. Herbie Kane shot straight at the keeper from 20 yards after more neat interplay from McCann’s side, who even in what was a first home defeat since October defeat did enough to suggest that Championship football could well return to the Keepmoat Stadium next season.

Doncaster Rovers (4-3-3): Marosi; Blair, Downing, Anderson, Andrew; Crawford (Rowe 64), Whiteman, Kane; May (Boocock 89), Marquis, Coppinger (Sadlier 64). Substitutes not used: Jones, Wright, Butler, Lewis.

Crystal Palace (4-3-3): Hennessey; Ward, Kelly, Dann, van Aanholt; Meyer, Milivojevic, Schlupp; Townsend (McArthur 80), Batshuayi (Benteke 75), Ayew (Kouyate 60). Substitutes not used: Tomkins, Guaita, Woods, Riedewald.