Darren Moore urges Doncaster Rovers to not let promising season peter out

Rovers have taken just one of the last 15 points available to them after their frustrating defeat at Ipswich Town at the weekend.

And while they remain in the top six, with games in hand over all sides above them, Moore says the current slide must stop if they are to prevent their chances of success drifting away.

“We certainly don’t want that,” Moore told the Free Press.

“We’ve worked too hard to get in the position we are in here and we still want to keep that focus and mentality for the second half of the season.

“That is certainly something we don’t want to be wishy-washy and see it drift by and pass us by.

“We’ve got to get back on it and get our application right.

“The application is there but I’m talking about the final few details that really matter in the game.

“We need to find that and we’ll be looking towards trying to apply ourselves in the right way on Tuesday.”

Rovers dominated the ball on Saturday but failed to make it count and were undone by more sloppy defending, which has blighted them during their recent poor run.

Moore was frustrated with the errors but said he stopped short of ranting at his players after the game, instead emphasising the need for better against another promotion rival Portsmouth at the Keepmoat on Tuesday.

He said: “It’s not so much the harsh words - it’s about not allowing games like this to pass us by.

“That is the message to the group really.

“We’ve allowed another game to pass us by, coming into an important time in the season.

“It’s about getting back to it with another game on Tuesday and making sure our performance levels are better, and we don’t drop off from that performance while making sure we’re more clinical in the opposition box and cut out the simple, elementary mistakes in our box.

“We need to go into the Portsmouth game with that sort of performance and hope that missing chances today brings that concentration level we need to have to be more effective in front of goal.”

*

In these confusing and worrying times, local journalism is more vital than ever. Thanks to everyone who helps us ask the questions that matter by taking out a subscription or buying a paper. We stand together. Nancy Fielder, editor.