'Outfought' - Grant McCann reacts to Doncaster Rovers’ 3-0 loss to Kidderminster in the FA Cup

Grant McCann pulled no punches in his assessment of his side's performance after they suffered a disappointing 3-0 defeat away to Kidderminster Harriers, admitting his players failed to compete in the most important areas of the game.

The defeat saw Doncaster Rovers exit the FA Cup in the first round for the first time in McCann’s tenure, with the manager acknowledging that the non-league outfit were superior throughout and fully deserved their place in the next round.

It also follows on from a demolarising 6-1 defeat away at MK Dons a week earlier, with the victory at Rochdale in the EFL Trophy not really being enough to paper over the recent cracks.

“Look we deservedly, got beat,” McCann said.

“When you play non-league teams, National League teams or any team sort of below you, and to be honest with you, any game, you have to do the basics right.

“They were better than us. They did the basics in the dark parts of football. They were so superior to us.”

It was particularly the first-half display that frustrated McCann. Rovers struggled to pose any attacking threat to the Kidderminster defence while allowing the hosts to play forward comfortably and win the majority of second balls.

Lewis Walker opened the scoring and remained a threat throughout, notably assisting Maz Kouhyar later in the half.

“We never committed to the plan,” McCann explained.

“We didn't want their centre-backs just chipping balls into Walker. We knew he's physically good, but we didn't press, we didn't jump in with any intensity.

“When we did press, it was a half-job. When the ball went over our heads, we didn't recover quickly enough to get around the seconds.”

These elements were factors that McCann says will cost his team against any opposition.

McCann added: “We conceded two of the sloppiest goals you've ever seen,” he said.

“We had a bit of a reaction in the second half, but not enough.”

“We wanted to be the one to get the next goal. We had a really good chance with Jordan. He could have just slid it under the keeper but tried to pass it inside.”

McCann will now have the international break to work with his squad and try and address some of the issues that have seen his side concede 10 times in the space of three matches.