JONES FUMES AT MISTAKES
DONCASTER Rovers’ interim manager Rob Jones laid into his players after their derby day collapse.
Chris Basham, Conor Sammon and Billy Sharp found the net to secure victory for the hosts, after Jones had seen Cameron Stewart temporarily draw Rovers level.
Doncaster’s Gary MacKenzie was sent off in the first-half to complete what was a miserable day for the visitors.
Jones said afterwards his side were simply not good enough.
“That was unacceptable,” he said.
“We can’t hide behind the fact that we went down to ten men, but I’m quite angry with the performance we put in.
“Yes we got back on level terms but it’s mistake after mistake after mistake and I’m not having it anymore.
“Irrespective of who we play against, the bare minimum is work rate and to avoid basic errors.
“We started alright and could have gone in front early on but they do, because of a mistake.
“We’ve now got to look for a reaction.
“A lot of things upset me but we’ve discussed in the changing room what I’m not pleased about.
“I demand a response on Tuesday night.”
As for Blades boss Nigel Adkins, he was pleased his side returned to winning ways at home after recent losses to Colchester and Bury.
He said: “It was a good three points but we should really have scored some more goals.
“The players have responded in a good manner and again we’ve created lots of chances.
“We’ve got a squad of players all striving to contribute.
“We’ve created chances, we would have liked to have kept a clean sheet but all in all it puts us back on track with a good three points at home.
“I’ve not seen the replay of the sending off, where there was a coming together. The referee has made those decisions and we have to abide by them.”
Adkins made six alterations to his line-up but United belied that fact as they opened the scoring on 17 minutes.
Basham thundered the ball home inside the box after a precise cross from Craig Alcock.
The visitors drew level just seven minutes later when Stewart’s free-kick was excellently placed beyond the flailing Mark Howard.
On the half-hour mark, Sammon wasted a glorious chance to restore the Blades’ lead when he controlled Paul Coutts’ chip before slipping a shot just wide.
However, Sammon made no mistake a few minutes later as he gleefully smashed home inside the box after Coutts again supplied the assist.
The game changed on 38 minutes when Rovers centre-half MacKenzie was shown a straight red card for a high foot on Alcock and headed for the tunnel.
Rovers struggled after that and were tthe architects of their own downfall for the third goal.
James Coppinger’s backpass fell well short for Thorsten Stuckmann and Sharp stole the ball, rounded the keeper and tapped into the empty net.