Grant McCann hails Doncaster players after Rochdale rout

Posted Wednesday, January 02, 2019 by PA

Grant McCann declared his immense pride in his Doncaster players after they opened the year with a 5-0 demolition of Rochdale.

A brace from John Marquis plus efforts from Alfie May, Ali Crawford and James Coppinger saw rampant Doncaster blitz Rochdale out of sight, much to the delight of their boss.

“As a team we were outstanding,” McCann said. “I thought we played really well.

“We started really brightly. That was the message to the group – can we put the game to bed early?

“I was proud watching them today. We scored goals but we also defended our goal with real authority.

“I’ve seen a good reaction after losing at Fleetwood on Boxing Day.

“We went to Gillingham and won there on the back of them beating Portsmouth and we’ve backed it up today against a Rochdale team with some good footballers. They’ve got players who can hurt you.

“We could have had five or six at Gillingham and the boys were disappointed to concede so late. Today we put bodies on the line to try to stop us conceding.

“Rochdale wouldn’t have sat back and accepted 3-0 – I told the players that. We stood up to that and we were ruthless at the other end.”

Rochdale boss Keith Hill said his players failed to ‘remember they were footballers’ after being unable to stop the game slipping away from them.

And he put the onus on his side to deliver an emphatic response to the mauling.

“For us to get off to the start we did in the manner we did, it’s not a reflection of the players’ abilities,” Hill said.

“I’m disappointed. But as a group of players and staff, what do you do? You either fight or accept your fate.

“You want a response from the players on the pitch, to work things out, make sure it doesn’t get worse but unfortunately sometimes it gets worse before it gets better.

“What happens after the game is up to me and up to the players to sort out.

“I hope they do. I hope they’ve got the mettle to do it because it can be difficult when you’ve just been beaten like that.

“Doncaster are a good side but I thought we were really poor. Very poor.

“I’m here as the figurehead, the manager, I select the side but the players have to make sure they’re performing better than that, individually and as a team.

“There were one or two I felt gave it a real go but you need them all to remember they’re football players, look after the ball, go and score goals and defend when the other team has the ball.

“There was not enough of that today.”