McCann delight after starting Doncaster reign with three-point haul
Posted Sunday, August 05, 2018 by PA
Doncaster manager Grant McCann hailed his new side’s second-half performance after seeing them beat Southend 3-2 to get his Rovers reign off to a winning start.
After a goalless first half which saw Rovers indebted to keeper Marko Marosi for keeping Southend at bay, the visitors raced into a three-goal lead before holding off a late Shrimpers fightback.
And McCann was delighted to come away from Roots Hall with all three points in an entertaining opening-day encounter.
“We’ve come to a team who are probably one of the best teams at home in this league and we’ve absolutely dominated the second half,” said McCann.
“We had to ride a wave for 30 minutes in the first half and we were reliant on our back four and the goalkeeper who was unreal.
“He pulled us out of it but when you have that quality at the other end you will get chances.
“I didn’t recognise the group in the first half and I said that to them at half-time but I was delighted with them after that.
“This is a very hard place to come and not many teams will come here and win.”
Slovakian shot-stopper Marosi superbly denied both Ben Coker and Simon Cox in a first half dominated by the Shrimpers.
But Rovers took control after the break and opened the scoring in the 51st minute with John Marquis working his way past Harry Lennon before firing home from close range.
Six minutes later, Mallik Wilks sent a 20-yard shot into the bottom right-hand corner of the net before a tame Tommy Rowe shot somehow trickled into the same corner following a short corner on the left-hand side.
Southend responded with debutant striker Tom Hopper bundling the ball home in the 75th minute before Marosi again did well to deny both Sam Barratt and Sam Mantom in quick succession.
The keeper was finally beaten again in the 86th minute when substitute Theo Robinson fired home from close range.
But the Shrimpers were unable to complete a comeback to leave boss Chris Powell ruing his side’s missed opportunities in front of goal.
“Our first-half performance warranted a goal and we needed a goal then too,” said Powell.
“We were very good but their keeper made some exceptional saves and was man of the match for me.
“We had 24 shots on goal and when you have that many you have to score more than two.
“The drinks break or half-time killed our momentum and we had a 15-minute spell when we weren’t right.
“They were poor goals to concede and we gave ourselves a real mountain to climb.
“But although everyone is down including myself there were actually some positives out there for us.”
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