Doncaster Rovers: We must do the basics better, says boss Darren Ferguson

Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Accrington Stanley extended Rovers’ run without a win to five games.

They fell behind at the Keepmoat Stadium for a third successive game before goals from Tommy Rowe and John Marquis put them ahead.

Rovers had chances to extend their lead before Stanley levelled late on from a free kick routine.

“We need to get back to the basics and fundamentals of winnng games of football,” said Ferguson.

“Don’t start a game at home and go 1-0 down after a minute. That’s one thing.

“We didn’t win enough second balls, the nitty gritty bits in the middle of the pitch. It’s very hard to win a game in the first fifteen minutes but you can certainly go a long way to losing it though.

“Their goal gave them a massive lift and it made things more difficult and meant everyone was on edge.

“I have to say the fans were outstanding, they didn’t get overly frustrated.

“We knew we had a team capable of creating chances and scoring goals but unfortunately we only got two and it wasn’t enough.

“The second goal was a poor one to concede from a set piece.

“We just need to get back to doing the basics which I didn’t think we did well enough at times,” he added.

“But we’re still unbeaten at home. We’ve just got to make sure that we start winning games again, which is an obvious statement.

“We’ve not won in five and teams will go through a bad run. It’s only been one defeat in those five but we’ve dropped points against Morecambe and Accrington, no question about that.”

Harry Middleton, pictured, got the nod to replace Jordan Houghton in the midfield holding role.

“I had a difficult decision to make about who played in there but I felt Accrington were not the most physical of teams so I thought he could cope with that and he’s a very good player on the ball,” said Ferguson.

“He showed last season he’s very good in that area.

“It allowed Rowe to play in the middle - with Coppinger and Grant - and he’s scored one and we should have scored more from that area.

“That was the reason behind it.

“I felt some of the stuff we worked on we did very well. We created numerous openings but we just couldn’t get that third goal.”