Match facts... Doncaster Rovers

Photo: Alan Howarth

Ryan McLaughlin goes down with cramp

ATHLETIC'S victory over Doncaster could have been more comfortable than it was, but manager Stephen Robinson was satisfied with the resolution showed by his team:

"We thoroughly deserved it and should have scored more than two.

"For an hour we dominated large parts, created a lot of chances and played some very good football.

"We were nervy to start with, which is understandable having lost the last two. People feel the pressure a bit and no matter what you say to them, they are human beings.

'HARD WORK'

"After that, there were some very good performances. We made it hard work in the final 10 minutes with seven men - Ollie Banks, Ryan McLaughlin and Charles Dunne all had cramp and Ryan Flynn had two ankles that had lumps kicked out of them.

"They showed great character.

"Lee (Erwin) missed a chance when it looked harder to miss and we had to make two early substitutions with Carl Winchester and Paul Green coming off.

"We thought 'here we go' and that it could be one of those days.

"They dug in and Lee showed great character to come back and play well.

"We could have had more goals. But we created a lot of chances and here we took two of them, which is the difference compared to the last few weeks."

Doncaster manager Darren Ferguson fielded a weakened side, but was still disappointed with the performance of his men:

"It's a really poor result, because this was a good opportunity to get into the next round.

"This was a game I really wanted to win, and we would have won if we had done the right things, but we're out of the cup and that's it until next year.

'VERY POOR'

"Both goals we conceded were very poor, although we got some positives because Liam Mandeville and Alfie Beestin were both excellent for 90 minutes.

"I had to make changes, because of the circumstances we find ourselves in with injuries and with a bug that seems to be going round.

"I only had five subs. I couldn't name any of the young lads on the bench, because the youth team had already gone to Hartlepool."