Doncaster Rovers 1 - 1 Bristol City - Cotterill happy with replay

Bristol City boss Steve Cotterill refused to hand the credit to Doncaster after his team had been outplayed in the first half of a hard-fought cup tie.

Rovers should have gone in front when they put City under sustained pressure just before the interval.

But they had to wait until the 50th minute before making the breakthrough when Luke McCullough lashed the ball home following a corner to record his first goal for the club.

City hit back when on-loan striker Matt Smith headed home his third goal in three games following a splendid right-wing cross from Luke Ayling in the 75th minute.

Doncaster had a chance to snatch victory deep into injury time when substitute Kyle Bennet fired over the bar in a goalmouth scramble.

Cotterill said: " We didn't turn up in the first half but that had nothing to do with Doncaster or the way they played.

"We didn't go forward and pass the ball like we can do.

"There were too many backward passes and we wasted the first 45 minutes but we played much better in the second half.

"I wasn't happy when they scored but we got back in the match with a textbook goal - a great cross and a fantastic header - and we could have gone on to win the match after that.

"People keep asking how important the FA Cup is to us when we are top of the league and the number one aim is to win promotion.

"But you never want to be beaten whatever competition you are in and I'm much happier playing another game and having a replay than losing - and I'm sure our fans are as well."

Rovers boss Paul Dickov disagreed with Cotterill's assessment and said: " They didn't play well in the first half because we didn't let them.

"It's disappointing to concede late in the game and it feels like a defeat after going so close to winning the match.

" But we are pleased with our performance overall against a team at the top of the League and we are not out of the tie by any means.

"Our away record is fantastic and we won't be lacking confidence when we go there for the replay.

"We should have won the game because we caused more problems for them than they did for us.

"Kyle had a great chance to win the match when he would have scored nine times out of 10 and our attitude and application overall was outstanding ".