Grant McCann wants Doncaster to keep levels up after Crewe win

Posted Sunday, March 10, 2024 by PA

Doncaster boss Grant McCann wants his side to keep their foot firmly on the accelerator heading towards the end of the season.

Rovers triumphed 2-0 over promotion-chasing Crewe to make it four wins from seven in League Two and put further daylight between themselves and the drop zone.

And McCann wants there to be no thoughts of next season from his players until the final game has been played.

“I’m not the sort of person that would ever let a season peter out,” he said. “The players know that and they know I wasn’t happy with them at half-time because I felt when we scored, we took our foot off the gas.

“I gently reminded them at half-time that we won’t allow that at this football club. We want them to put the foot on the gas and go and get the next goal, no matter who we are playing.

“We want to keep the positivity and the season certainly won’t peter out. We will be ultra-competitive in every single game. This one is done and we’re onto the next one.

“I thought we played well. We were very controlled in the game and scored two goals from set plays which was good because we haven’t done that enough this season.”

Hakeeb Adelakun scored directly from a corner after 17 minutes to put Doncaster ahead before veteran midfielder Tommy Rowe poked home from close range after the break to send the hosts on their way to a comfortable win.

Crewe manager Lee Bell urged his players not to focus on the position in which they find themselves in the table and get back to concentrating on picking up wins.

The defeat at Doncaster was the second in a row for Alex and damages their push for automatic promotion, with Bell calling on his side to not let that weigh too heavily on them.

“I think we’ve got to just relax a little bit,” he said. “The situation we’re in is still a good one and I’ve told the players to relax and play with the freedom. There were a few heavy touches and maybe that is a reflection on the position we’re in.

“We’ve got to forget about that and concentrate on performing in games because the end result is what matters. If we’re able to relax and pick up performances again like we have been all season, we should be somewhere near.

“It’s a disappointing result. On the back of what happened last weekend for us we wanted a response and it’s not quite happened for us today.

“It was a tough result to take and there’s certainly a lot for us to improve on with our performance.”