Doncaster Rovers man insists squad "on right path" despite narrow derby defeat to Bradford City
Harry Clifton says the Doncaster Rovers squad can sense that they are on an upward curve, despite suffering their first major setback of the New Year.
Rovers were narrowly edged out 1-0 at Yorkshire rivals Bradford City as they suffered their first league reverse of 2026. Grant McCann's side had a clutch of opportunities to open the scoring in West Yorkshire but were punished in ruthless fashion late on when Tyreik Wright found the net with a sumptuous volley.
Despite the loss, Clifton says there's plenty of positives to take away from Valley Parade. "It's all about moments in games," said the former Grimsby Town man. "I'd say that we competed well. We'll not be too down about it because we've got a lot of games coming up.
"And everyone's firing, to be fair. Everyone's at it at training. At the end of the day, we're going to need everyone like that.
"We've done well of late and we could have had a few more points. We'll keep looking at it and we'll keep tidying things up.
"But we're on the right path. We can see that and we can sense it in the squad. We have an identity, definitely. And I think everyone can see that. So, we've got to just keep pushing that every game."
On the slender loss to the Bantams, Clifton added: "We could have maybe played a bit more to suck them out. We know they want to press at high intensity. I think that's maybe something that we'll look back at as a team. But, like I say, it's that fine balance. Because if you don't do that side of the game here, then it can become worse for you.
"So, yes, we stayed in the game and we had enough chances to win it. I'm just disappointed we didn't quite do that."
Rovers have a quick chance to atone for their derby loss when they travel to Burton Albion on Tuesday night.