Doncaster Rovers boss Danny Schofield delivers message to his goal-shy strikers

Doncaster's head coach was left frustrated after his front men wasted gilt-edged opportunities to score in Saturday's 2-0 defeat to Sutton United, which he believed would have changed the outcome of the match.

Both George Miller and Caolan Lavery might feel they should have found the back of the net in the capital last weekend.

Schofield revealed his message to the pair in the dressing room at full time.

He said: "I said 'look, I'm going to back everything you do because you are giving everything for this football club and your teammates, and that's fantastic.

"But I also said 'we need to be accountable as well for our actions'.

"It's the same for the centre-backs competing, blocking shots and winning headers. But the attacking players have also got to be accountable for not taking good chances."

Miller is Rovers’ top-scorer this term with 11 goals but has now gone 13 matches without scoring.

Schofield resisted calls from some fans to drop the former Barnsley man in favour of January arrival Lavery, who was instead used from the bench against Sutton.

He said: “Without me putting too much pressure on them we have got to take responsibility – me as a coach, as a staff in terms of how we coach the players. But players also have to take responsibility if we are not getting that final action right.”

Miller has missed several good chances to score in recent weeks and came agonizingly close to ending his goal drought at the start of the second half with the score tied at 0-0.

But the striker’s effort from inside the six-yard box was blocked on the line before Sutton opened the scoring two minutes later.

Lavery then missed a glorious chance to open his Doncaster account and equalise when he connected with a cross in the box but failed to keep his shot on target.

Schofield said: “We are creating the chances, it’s just that final bit of quality, that moment, can go in the net (that’s missing).

"The big chance at 0-0, if we go 1-0 up I feel it’s game over. It’s frustrating but we understand what football is and we can only keep working.”