Darren Moore explains strong team selection for Doncaster Rovers' clash with Bradford City

The need for game time was the driving force behind Darren Moore’s decision to name a strong side for the EFL Trophy clash with Bradford City.
Darren MooreDarren Moore
Darren Moore

The Rovers boss selected a near-full strength XI, just four days before the start of the League One campaign.

After a five month break from action and a short pre-season, Moore said he felt it was the right thing to do in order to continue to prepare his players for the league campaign.

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“You can’t beat match minutes at this stage,” he said. “Working as we have done, match minutes are everything.

“I’m pleased the group and they will have benefitted with the minutes in terms of robustness, their bodies coping with their demands of it.

“We’ve been off for five months so we need the game time and the training to find that cohesion, the passes, the decision making, the timing.

“We want to work as quickly as we can to find all that and I think that we are.”

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Rovers battled out a goalless draw with the Bantams before taking the bonus point with a penalty shootout triumph which included a save from debutant keeper Louis Jones.

Despite being on top for much of the contest, Rovers struggled to break down their robust visitors and Moore believes the shortened preparation time was a factor in that.

“You have to remember that we’re into the fifth week of pre-season,” he said.

“That is why you have got to just keep working.

“I’m not using it as an excuse. It is what it is and we are where we are.

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“It’s about recovery now for the lads because we’ve got some work to do for Saturday’s game.

“We can’t wait to get back in the week and get working again.”

Moore praised Bradford for their efforts on the night, with their hard running providing a strong workout for Rovers.

“Credit to Bradford, I thought they worked extremely hard tonight and made it a really difficult game for us,” he said.

“I thought our penalties were really good but I thought there were things in possession we could have done better.”