Grant McCann on 'unreal' Billy Sharp as Doncaster Rovers legend signs off in style
Grant McCann paid tribute to Billy Sharp after the veteran's fairytale end to his Doncaster Rovers career.
Sharp, 40, hit a second half hat-trick in the 3-1 final day win over Peterborough as Rovers ended their first season back in League One on a high. They end the campaign on 60 points, and in 14th spot.
After a goalless first half, Sharp lit the touch paper for an explosive ending when he opened the scoring not long after half-time. Another quickly followed before Harry Leonard's strike halved the deficit. But Sharp had the final say as he leathered home his treble strike to take his career tally to 299. And he thought he'd hit the magic number of 300 only for an offside flag to cruelly deny him that landmark on his swansong appearance.
"Billy knew he needed four goals today to hit the 300 and I spoke to him during the week about it," McCann said post-match.
"I thought he was going to do it and I thought every time he went forward today he was going to score. He's unreal, honestly.
“Whatever words I use, it isn't going to be enough to speak about Billy. It's absolute testament to him and his teammates to try and find him those opportunities and chances today. He was clinical with every one. Even the one where he was offside, he was clinical."
On that particular 'fourth' goal, McCann added: "It was tight. I'm gutted that he's not going to be here next year because he's such a top, top pro and a player. But whatever Billy does, I'm sure he will do it to the best of his ability like he's done his whole career."
On the performance as a whole, McCann added: "There was a lot of good performances out there today without going overboard on any particular one. But I like to give the younger ones that sort of praise and how they handled the environment today.
"I thought we were the better team throughout, to be fair. I thought we showed more energy and more bite about us, more aggression about us. Peterborough have got some really talented players but I felt we wanted it more. I felt we created a lot more chances that on another day probably could have finished five or six.
"So, it was a really good game to finish. It's a shame there's nothing on it, but it gets us to 60 points. And it puts us another mark in the sand for our first year back at this level and puts us in a good place leading into the recruitment next season."