Grant McCann urges Doncaster to focus on themselves

Posted Sunday, April 14, 2019 by PA

Grant McCann insists he is only focused on the results of his Doncaster side after they further strengthened their bid for a League One play-off place.

Rovers secured a fourth consecutive victory in beating Plymouth 2-0, with goals from Tommy Rowe and Danny Andrew, which maintained their five-point advantage over seventh-placed Peterborough.

With a lead of eight points over Coventry in eighth, McCann was asked if he felt it was a straight shootout between Rovers and his former club Posh for the final play-off place.

But he said he is paying no attention to any other side.

“I’ve absolutely no interest on who is below us,” McCann said.

“We need to focus on our job and our job is to continue to win to keep us in the top six.”

Rowe put Doncaster ahead after seven minutes and a free-kick from Andrew on the stroke of half-time gave them breathing space.

McCann was pleased with the quick start.

“I thought we were very good in the first half and possibly should have had two or three more goals,” he said.

“The second half, Plymouth came into it a bit more but I thought we were comfortable throughout.

“It’s another good result. The boys are starting bright, they’re on the front foot and they’re almost killing games off in the first half.

“The two centre-halves dealt with everything that came their way and we had a couple of chances on the break in the second half.

“Momentum is growing and we’re really pleased with it.”

Plymouth boss Derek Adams labelled his side’s performance in the first half as their worst of the season as they slipped three points above the bottom four.

He said: “The way we started was exceptionally poor. We were very slack on the ball in the early stages of the game.

“We gave it away, we were second best and Doncaster punished us on that.

“We lose possession of the ball inside our box, we don’t get a tackle in and they get the first goal.

“I thought it was a shocking first-half performance by us all. The way that we passed the ball, the way we didn’t compete with Doncaster and we didn’t win any second balls.

“That was probably as bad as we have been this season in the first half. We lose the second goal direct from a free-kick and it gave us a really hard uphill struggle in the second half.

“It couldn’t be any worse than the first. The first half was terrible – the slackness on the ball, the slackness to anticipate coming to one of their players and being second best was all over the pitch.”