Grant McCann happy with 10-man Doncaster’s resilience in draw at MK Dons

Posted Sunday, September 22, 2024 by PA

Doncaster boss Grant McCann was pleased with his team’s resilience in drawing 1-1 at MK Dons despite an early red card.

Rovers’ Harry Clifton was sent off in the 10th minute after two bookings for fouls on Ellis Harrison.

MK Dons took the lead in the 34th minute when Harrison turned in Aaron Nemane’s cross, but Harrison was later dismissed himself in the 52nd minute for a foul on Owen Bailey.

Tom Anderson’s equaliser from a corner in the 82nd minute saw Doncaster take a point.

Speaking afterwards, McCann queried the second of Clifton’s two bookings but praised how his team adapted to losing a player early on and then pushed on when the Dons’ red card happened.

He said: “The first one’s a yellow card. It is a yellow card and I don’t disagree with that. But it’s very rare someone does get booked in the first two, three minutes of a game.

“But Harry does, and I agree it’s a yellow. Second one is just a coming together in the middle of the pitch and I thought it was very harsh. It puts us on the back foot a little bit.

“I was pleased with the boys and how they dug in right up until their red card.

“From that moment onwards, you can see the difference in class, personally. It’s not me being critical of MK Dons, who are a good team, but I thought we were much better.

“We had all the dominance from the 57th, 58th minute but just didn’t win. We stood firm, got the goal from a good set play, take the point and move on.”

Dean Lewington, who was in caretaker charge of MK Dons after Mike Williamson’s departure, praised his team’s start but felt they could have done more to adapt to their own dismissal.

He said: “I thought we started really brightly. We came out of the traps and I was pleased with the opening five, 10 minutes. The red card for them makes a big change and the game then goes into a different kind of flow.

“I thought we managed that quite well. We got the goal and I was pleased at half-time. We were overcomplicating it a little bit at times but overall, we were doing OK.

“Then second half, it’s another decision that changes the flow of the game again and we didn’t really recover or react really well to the red card. We sort of took a stance where we didn’t get out the box. We lost our way a little bit and it’s disappointing it’s at a set-piece, but apart from that, there wasn’t too much else.

“We need to be a bit more resilient, but overall, I was fairly pleased.”