Third-placed Middlesbrough ran out 3-1 winners after Sharp had given Rovers the lead with a spectacular volley, although it was remarkable the home captain had taken to the pitch in the first place.

Earlier in the evening Doncaster announced Sharp's two-day-old son Louie Jacob had tragically died on Saturday.

The crowd commemorated the infant's life with a minute's applause before kick-off and the former Sheffield United man sent them into raptures with his 14th-minute opener.

However, Barry Robson's double either side of Marvin Emnes' effort in first-half stoppage time, courtesy of a dreadful error from Rovers goalkeeper Neil Sullivan, gave Middlesbrough victory and sent their opponents to the foot of the npower Championship table.

"I knew what was going on all week and I also know the finer details of what happened, which is worse than you think," said Doncaster boss Saunders of Sharp's situation.

"He rung me last night and asked me if he could play - he wanted to play.

"He wanted to play to score a goal for his son and his family and he was ready to go.

"When he said that to me I couldn't really refuse.

"You won't score a better goal than that - it's incredible. I thought 'the story's already been written. He's going to end up with a hat-trick here and we're going to win 3-0'.

"It didn't turn out that way but I'm really proud that he wanted to play and it tells you a bit about him as a man. There's not many people who would have done that.

His Middlesbrough counterpart Mowbray added: "Taking the professionalism out of it, I'm delighted for the boy that he's scored such a fantastic goal on such an occasion for him.

"It's amazing to think for anyone who's had children the emotional drain that must have been with him - I couldn't put it into words.

"For him to score a wonder-goal, your headlines should be there really - a goal from heaven."

Boro were under intense pressure for the first half-hour of the contest, and their recovery appeared to coincide with Belgian midfielder Faris Haroun replacing injured wing-back Justin Hoyte.

This saw Mowbray switch his side from 3-5-2 to 4-4-2, but he refused to cite the formation change as the reason for the turnaround.

"With formations, you're only filling space on the pitch. It's a bout the quality of the players to make the right decisions on the ball. I don't think the formation really matters.

"Sometimes we play three at the back to bring teams on to us a bit more because their full-backs can attack then we're ready to break.

"4-4-2 for us is generally a high pressing game. If you think it worked then great, but for me it's about the quality of the players making the right passes and the right runs."