Gary McSheffrey praises Kyle Hurst after match-winning double

Posted Sunday, August 21, 2022 by PA

Gary McSheffrey was full of praise for Kyle Hurst as the winger netted his first two senior goals to help Doncaster come from behind to beat Salford.

Hurst produced two excellent finishes to help Rovers remain without defeat in the league and end Salford’s unbeaten start to the campaign, despite having led through Brandon Thomas-Asante’s early strike.

“I’m delighted for Hursty, getting his first two career goals,” manager McSheffrey said.

“He just started to get into it. He was causing them problems but his end product was going awry.

“He was finding his half a yard but he couldn’t get any power into his shooting. That’s what happens when you’re young and excited – you get jelly legs a little bit.

“For the first one to go in was brilliant and the confidence he took from that, you could see it with his second. What a finish. To go with his left foot and near post, high into the net was a great finish.”

Rovers boss McSheffrey lost three players to injury during the game, leaving him with midfielders Harrison Biggins and Tommy Rowe at full-back by the end.

“It’s a great win,” he said. “It’s points over performance for us at the minute.

“We started awfully and we were lucky to be at one (-nil down).

“We had to make too many changes which left us at bare bones and we had to tweak things several times.

“But we dealt with it and got better.”

Salford manager Neil Wood was frustrated at the lack of control shown by his side after taking the lead against Rovers.

And he warned his players they must deal with being a big scalp in League Two.

He said: “We started very well but, after we scored the early goal, we stopped keeping possession and doing the things we were doing well. Doncaster kept putting the ball into our half and we had to soak up a lot of pressure.

“We needed to get our foot back on the ball and take control of the game, but we conceded a lucky goal for them just before half-time and then, after taking control of the game in the second half, we conceded a really, really poor goal that put us on the back foot.

“Other than that, I thought we dominated the second half but our final ball and end product wasn’t good enough.

“We were also sloppy at times we didn’t need to be and you can’t rest when you’ve gone 1-0 up. The players know that and you only have to look at how the whole ground reacted to see how much beating Salford meant to everybody here and we have to be able to cope with that extra responsibility.”