Cod Army frustrated by rigid Rovers

UWE Rosler admitted that his Fleetwood side rode their luck as Doncaster became the first team in League One this season to travel to Highbury and come away unscathed.

Rovers became the first team to prevent play-off chasing Fleetwood from scoring on home soil after a goalless draw where the home side found their area under siege in the second period.

The Cod Army weathered the storm and ensured they weren’t fully upset by Darren Ferguson’s troops and Rosler was happy to settle for a hardfought point.

“First half, we were on top, second half, they were – overall, it was a fair result,” he said.

“We could not use the advantage in the first half to play with the wind and go 1-0 up.

“Second half, we were hanging in there – especially, there were one or two periods where we could not clear the lines.

“Our keeper made three good saves.

“It was very tense, like we predicted; two teams with a similar shape, a lot of duels.

“I felt the first goal was always important between two teams that cancelled each other out.”

Though both attempted to bring the ball down and play football, they each lacked true quality in the final third to make it count.

Fleetwood had plenty of success down the right flank in the first half, with wing-back Wes Burns delivering plenty of dangerous balls into the box.

But overall, it was Doncaster who had the better of the chances, particularly after the break.

John Marquis drew an excellent save from Alex Cairns with a powerful drive from the edge of the box and also forced the keeper to tip over with a close-range effort. And Rodney Kongolo almost won it at the end of the game after a smart turn in the box but his shot was tame.

The visitors stretched their unbeaten run to five matches with a point and while pleased with the solidity of his team, manager Ferguson believed they could have won the game.

“It was a very tight game but we feel we had the better opportunities in the match, especially as the game got towards the end,” said the Rovers chief.

“Their keeper has made three very good saves. On another day, one of those goes in and it's a good three points.

“I’m not over the moon in terms of not winning the game but with the opposition – what they did last season and what they’re doing this – it’s not a bad result.”