SHAMBOLIC Town were lucky not to get a real hiding.
The scoreline was highly flattering to Peter Jackson's side, who were embarrassingly second best for all bar the final few minutes.
Many Town fans were heading home by the time Jon Worthington scored with seven minutes left to spark a last-gasp, desperate rally.
It was too little too late, however, as the damage had been done with goals from Leo Fortune-West and Paul Green to delight the home contingent in a holiday crowd of 7,058 at Belle Vue.
In truth, Doncaster were worth a four or five-goal win and if Town don't buck up their ideas and make this outing a painful one-off, it's going to be a long hard season trying to make the grade in Coca-Cola League I.
Town were murdered by Doncaster in the first half, when Simon Marples and impressive James Coppinger ran riot down the right flank.
They linked fluently with Green, who dominated the midfield, and supplied a string of crosses to Fortune-West, Greg Blundell and Michael McIndoe which had Ian Gray's defence in tatters.
Not since they were ripped apart at Macclesfield last December have Town looked in such disarray and the only surprise was that it took 28 minutes for Doncaster to open the scoring.
They would have gone in front earlier if Blundell's shot hadn't ballooned over the bar off Fortune-West as he lay on the ground, but when Nathan Clarke hesitated in making a clearance, the big striker pounced.
He robbed Clarke of possession in an instant and, turning swiftly to shoot with his left foot from 15 yards, steered a low drive into the corner despite Gray's solid touch on the ball.
The only saving grace of the first half was that Town were only one goal down and Jackson - who dropped Efe Sodje in favour of Nat Brown, gave Fowler a first start of the season and recalled Andy Booth - made another change to bring on Danny Schofield in a 4-4-2.
Clarke was sacrificed from the back line and Town weren't quite such a mess, but they still conceded within 10 minutes of the re-start as their lack of pace was exposed once again.
A simple long-ball from Tim Ryan did the damage this time and Blundell was quickly away from Andy Holdsworth and homing in on goal.
Gray managed to block his initial effort and Holdsworth, covering as best he could, stopped the follow-up from Green - but the midfield kingpin didn't miss at the second attempt.
There had been ironic cheers from Town's fans just beforehand when a move down the right involved three successive passes, and the visitors didn't show anything like the necessary belief and passion until they had a lucky escape 14 minutes from time.
Coppinger, this time, left Rob Edwards stranded and clipped his shot past Gray only for it to rebound off a post when he thought it was in.
Edwards made amends by supplying Abbott for the pass which led to Worthington's goal, and Town forced some late panic in the home defence, especially when Chris Brandon's shot was blocked wide after a flick-on from Brown.
Town didn't deserve an equaliser, however, and the sooner this awful performance is consigned to the rubbish dump of history, the better.
MAN OF THE MATCH: Nat Brown
Making his first start since February, he battled it out well with Fortune-West, who was eventually taken off. The opening goal was not Brown's fault and he played with a lot of guts at the back
HOW THEY RATED: Ian Gray Some breakdowns in communication with his defence didn't help on a day Town escaped a real hammering Rating: 3/10
Andy Holdsworth Outpaced by Blundell for Doncaster's winning goal, he was too often pushed back by the lively Michael McIndoe. Not at his best Rating: 3/10
Rob Edwards Given a roasting by James Coppinger as Doncaster raided with freedom down their righthand side Rating: 3/10
Nathan Clarke Did well to start with but made a horror mistake to gift Fortune-West the opening goal and was substituted at half time Rating: 3/10
Nat Brown Gave as good as he got against Fortune-West. Made some solid tackles and clearances and battled throughout Rating: 6/10
David Mirfin Considering Town were outplayed, he didn't do too badly against Blundell and did some good mopping up Rating: 4/10
Lee Fowler Tried his best to get Town passing the ball but they were overrun in midfield by Green and big Doolan Rating: 3/10
Jon Worthington Grafted hard and was eventually rewarded with his second goal in as many matches. Suffered in a second-best midfield Rating: 4/10
Chris Brandon Almost anonymous in the first half, he fared a little better in the second when moved onto the right wing Rating: 3/10
Pawel Abbott Held onto the ball too often in his desperation to find an opening but worked hard and made a few excellent passes Rating: 4/10
Andy Booth Back after injury, he got precious little decent service, although he set up Schofield for a shot which was well saved Rating: 3/10
Doncaster Rovers: Warrington, Marples, Foster, Fenton, Ryan, Coppinger (Albrighton 89), Green, Doolan, McIndoe, Blundell (Ipoua 78), Fortune-West (McSporran 78).
Subs not used: Jones (Gkp), Ravenhill.
