No talk of relegation fight – Grant McCann says Rovers only eyeing strong finish

Posted Sunday, February 11, 2024 by PA

Doncaster boss Grant McCann insists the threat of relegation has never been spoken about in the Rovers camp after they took a huge step towards making sure of their League Two status with victory over Tranmere.

Goals from Joe Ironside and Hakeeb Adelakun saw Doncaster claim a 2-1 triumph and a first win since New Year’s Day to move them 10 points clear of the division’s bottom two.

And McCann says the only focus now is to collect as many wins as possible before the end of the campaign.

“I know we’ve still got a game in hand on some teams and we’re just in that area where we’re 13 or 14 points from the top seven and 10 points from the relegation zone,” McCann said. “We want to make sure we finish the season strong.

“I said to the players after the game, let’s see how many wins we can get. No one has spoken about the bottom of the league or the top of the league. I’ve just said to them let’s win as many games as we can between now
and the end of the season.

“Let’s breed some confidence around the place.

“The fans were brilliant and they’ve been crying out for that sort of win for a while and the boys have done that for them.

“It’s a good win for us but our focus will quickly turn onto Salford on Tuesday.

“There was lots to like in the performance. Bravery getting on the ball, being patient and I thought we grew into the game with it.”

Tranmere boss Nigel Adkins also felt there was plenty to be positive about in his side’s performance despite the loss, with “fine margins” costing them after Josh Hawkes equalised on the hour mark.

“We were looking to win it and we had more than enough opportunities to win it,” he said.

“We started the game ever so well and the players have grafted and worked ever so hard. When we went behind, we got ourselves back into the game, made substitutions and looked to go and win it. We had that early momentum in the second half.

“They’ve defended very deep but they’ve got what proved to be the winning goal. We had loads of opportunities and it wasn’t for the lack of trying. The lads kept going all the way through.

“On another day, we win the game comfortably. It’s fine margins and we haven’t done it but you could see how hard the players are working, you could see our attacking threat and the fans were brilliant from the very beginning.

“The players are trying. We haven’t got the three points but when I look back at it, there’s many things that the players have done well.”