Boss Moore rues ‘disappointing afternoon’ for Doncaster

Doncaster boss Darren Moore was left to bemoan “a poor showing all round” after their FA Cup dreams went up in smoke in a 3-0 defeat at Gillingham.

Mark Byrne and Olly Lee both scored inside the first 15 minutes to effectively end the contest early as the Gills booked their place in the third round draw on Monday.

Rovers might sit above their opponents in the League One table but they could not muster much of a response in the second half.

And it was left to Brandon Hanlan to fire in a solo third to seal the win and leave Moore searching for answers.

“I’ll never pick out individuals, we win games as a team, we lose them as a team. I just felt that, up against a strong, powerful team, we didn’t carry ourselves properly,” said the Rovers boss.

“We pride ourselves on our performances and for the first time this season we didn’t get a performance. The players are honest enough to accept that. We’re looking for a response now.

“That was a disappointing afternoon. It was a poor showing all round, with the damage being inflicted within 20 minutes.

“We didn’t quite do our jobs correctly from the start. You can’t give a team a two-goal headstart.

“We knew what was to be expected, we know what Gillingham are about and we knew we had to be ready, but we didn’t perform.

“Even at half-time we knew it was an uphill battle. We made changes to try and get back in the game but for whatever reason it didn’t fall for us today.

“We spoke about the third goal being crucial and ultimately Gillingham getting that killed off the game. Sometimes you get your bad days but I felt like today we didn’t really cause them any problems. That’s a disappointment.”

The Rovers made it all the way to round five last year, but this time it is the Gills into the third round for the second year in succession.

And assistant manager Paul Raynor was delighted with his side’s fast start to proceedings.

“I thought we were dominant, the first half in particular. Credit to all the boys, to a man they were excellent against a very good Doncaster side and it’s a deserved victory,” he said.

“Before the game we showed the players videos of how good Doncaster are with the ball, how fluid they are and how adventurous they are. Our aim was to get about them and stop them from playing – I thought the intensity of our play blew them away today. Our game has to be about putting teams under pressure and we got our rewards today.

“I wouldn’t like to play against (Brandon Hanlan). He’s got such pace and power. He’s going to continue to get chances and I’m delighted that he got the goal today. He deserved that.”