Doncaster Rovers get glowing praise from former boss Grant McCann

McCann witnessed his current side Hull City secure a 2-1 win over Rovers on Wednesday but feels he has seen enough of them this season to back them for a promotion push.

“Without a doubt,” he said. “They're one of the better teams in this league, in my opinion.

“Darren's done a tremendous job since he's gone in there.

“He's got very good players – Ben Whiteman's the one who stands out in everyone's eyes and I'm sure he can play at the level above.

“They're a very good team who play in the right way, quite similar to us, and I'm sure they'll be up and around it come the end of the season.”

McCann credited the Rovers defence for keeping his Hull side at bay for much of Wednesday’s clash at the KCOM Stadium.

The hosts crafted plenty of chances but needed a late winner from Tom Eaves after Rovers pegged them back.

The former Northern Ireland international worked with both Joe Wright and Tom Anderson during his time with Rovers while Halliday was one of his final signings just before he left the Keepmoat for Humberside 18 months ago.

“I thought Doncaster defensively were really good,” he said.

“We kept getting up there but there were blocks, we hit the post, the keeper played really well, there was the penalty incident we didn't get.

“It's very easy for me to be critical of my team, which I'm not going to do.

“I'm going to give credit to Doncaster for the way they defended.

“I know their back four very well in terms of Wright, Anderson and Halliday and they defended really well for them, so I've got to give Doncaster credit for that but I was really pleased to get the job done at the end.

“I've got the knowledge of working with Paul Gerrard on how he sets Doncaster up for set plays.

“We knew we had to do the work because they're zonal, there's two blockers, they're aggressive in there, particularly Wright and Anderson.

“We had to work it a little bit, particularly the second half with more short corners, and try to get at them that way.”

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