Ambitious McCann keen for Rovers to entertain
IT WAS back in the mid- Noughties that Doncaster Rovers – labelled by former chairman John Ryan as ‘the Arsenal of the North’ – first reconnected with a town and became the talk of it too.
Those heady days that carried on into the start of the current decade will always yield a broad smile among Rovers followers, who enjoyed quite a ride and were treated to some sparkling football in front of healthy five-figure crowds along the way.
The sight of a bumper Keepmoat attendance on Sunderland’s first visit to the stadium this evening will represent a reminder of those rarified times when the likes of Leeds United, Sheffield Wednesday and Sheffield United were regular visitors.
The entertainment on offer on the pitch is also starting to turn back the clock.
On their first visit to Doncaster for a competitive fixture since August 1987 attention will not just be drawn to the sell-out Sunderland away contingent of 4,000.
The sight of the home sections also being well populated should not lost upon anyone either, with word starting to get out among those Doncastrians whose attendance levels may have fallen off in recent seasons that the current side are onto something good – and easy on the eye too.
Value certainly arrived in Saturday’s 3-3 draw with Gillingham when Rovers mustered 32 attempts on goal.
It was a performance that manager Grant McCann heralded as his side’s best of the season while whetting the appetite for this evening’s marquee fixture against illustrious opponents.
McCann, who has a doubt over key midfielder Herbie Kane, said: “I hope the word is spreading a little bit. We are playing well. We can always be better and improve – definitely defensively – but I think we look a threat.
“Every time we go forward we look like we are going to score and it will only stand us in good stead.
“We want to make the fans happy and make sure they come away from the Keepmoat being entertained and seeing a team who wants to win and who has got the guts and belief to get back in the game.
“We created chances every two-and-a-half minutes on Saturday and that is what we are all about.”
Tonight’s high-stakes, highoctane occasion, to be played in front of a big gate, is one that McCann hopes will serve as an appetiser for the definitive second half of the season.
It is an encounter that all his players are relishing too and one that McCann and his side, currently sixth in the table, would dearly love to sample more regularly.
McCann added: “We are striving to have this place packed out every week. We want to be in a higher league. The Championship is where you want to be.
“Sunderland are a huge club who have started as well as we have. I know they will be coming here thinking it will be a tough game; they would be silly not to.
“We have got to make sure we give them a tough game.”
There are obvious disparities in terms of finances and levels of support between Rovers and Sunderland with McCann adamant that if budgets counted for anything then the Wearsiders would be running away with the league.
Refreshingly they are not and on the pitch the gap is considerably closer. As it stands Sunderland are just one point and three places above Rovers, who will leapfrog the North East side should they prevail tonight.
McCann said: “They will have one player on more than my whole team – I know that for a fact.
“It is a huge test for us against what is a huge club for this division.
“They should be running away with the league really with the budget they have got there.
“It is an even league, apart from Sunderland and Barnsley and the squad they have put together for about £10m.
“I know their 11 who start every week is worth about that and it is a Championship team. Those two are head and shoulders above everybody financially.
“The game will definitely show where we are.
“We want to make sure we put a performance on.
“There are some big ex-Premier League clubs in this league. It is a tough league, but I don’t think there is a team like a Blackburn or a Wigan (last year).
“I think it is open although Portsmouth have pulled away a little bit. It is open for people to put a challenge together.” IF BARNSLEY needed a reminder that they represent a prized League One scalp in 2018-19 along with Sunderland they received it on Saturday.
The Reds’ visit to Charlton Athletic coincided with the Addicks’ best performance of the season and a 2-0 win for the hosts, which served as a warning ahead of tonight’s trip to Shropshire, according to assistant head coach Andreas Winkler.
He said: “We will try to do better in the next match. We played a really good match, but we made too many mistakes and normally we do not do that.
“We talked to the manager of Charlton and he said they played their best match. Every opponent team gets a really good performance against us.”
After Saturday’s disappointment everyone connected with the Oakwell outfit are also acutely aware of the notion that all good and successful sides strike back from defeats at the first available juncture.
Following their first defeat of the season at Coventry City, Daniel Stendel’s side triumphed in their next appointment at Fleetwood, and that is very much the aim against Shrewsbury this evening.
Midfielder Alex Mowatt added: “We were in on Sunday and we did a post-match analysis of the (Charlton) game and how we thought it went. It was just one of those games when things did not go our way and we have to put it behind us and move on.
“We need to bounce back. We want to get promoted in the top two and, when you have a bad game, you need to react.
“Every team in this league can be a danger.”