Gary McSheffrey surprised by how ‘comfortable’ Doncaster were in Northampton win

Doncaster boss Gary McSheffrey was surprised by how “comfortable” his side were during their 1-0 League Two victory over Northampton at Sixfields on Saturday.

It was a relatively-tight game between two previously unbeaten sides but Doncaster created the better moments and came away with all three points thanks to George Miller’s second-half penalty.

Rovers are one of two teams still unbeaten in League Two this season and they have climbed to third in the early standings as a result.

“I’m really pleased,” said McSheffrey. “Apart from a couple of chances near the end of the game, I thought it was comfortable for us.

“We were expecting this to be our toughest game of the season so far but it was probably one of our most comfortable.

“It’s never a comfortable scoreline but we dominated possession and territory and played in their half and managed the game really well.

“The stadium was a little bit lethargic and they didn’t come at us with any sort of tempo and I think we probably drained that out of them by how we played in the first half.

“We just made it uncomfortable for them. I thought we deserved to win without being fluent or free-flowing. You know what they are about and you know they have good players so you are expecting a tough game – but I didn’t think we got that.

“I felt we looked comfortably the better team with better leaders out there on the pitch and players wanting to take the ball, but every team has off days and I think that was probably theirs today.”

By contrast, Northampton tasted defeat for the first time this season and manager Jon Brady did not have too many complaints.

“They came here to stifle the game and we never really got going in the first half and we were not at our best,” he admitted.

“We had a few half chances but it took until the last 20 minutes for us to have any real intensity in the game and really break their back-line and get behind them.

“We created a couple of good chances in those last 20 minutes and we could have finished them off but it wasn’t to be.

“It was a good tactical battle and in the end they have come out on top. With the penalty, we should not put ourselves in that position but Shaun (McWilliams) gets the wrong side so I don’t have any qualms with that.

“I’m not going to get too high or too low. That’s our first defeat since the start of April going back to last season. We need to be better but we know that.”