Grant McCann says Doncaster Rovers have perfect promotion springboard after Hull City win

McCann's side edged out their Championship hosts and his former club on penalties to book a spot in round four. They'll welcome Premier League side Crystal Palace to the Eco-Power Stadium next month in a game that is effectively a free hit for Rovers with nothing to lose against Oliver Glasner's side plus the guarantee of another handy cash injection, even if they fail to progress to the last-16.

Rovers now resume their promotion campaign away at Gillingham on Saturday lunchtime as they aim to put together a good run of form and chase down one of the automatic promotion spots. McCann believes Walsall, currently 12 points clear of the chasing pack and with a game in hand, are now out of reach but is adamant his side can go up a few notches as they look to return to the third tier.

"The league's our bread and butter and that's the most important thing for us," McCann said. "But this (FA Cup) is a nice bonus for us and hopefully we can use it as a springboard to be a bit more consistent.

"Over the last nine or 10 games we haven't been consistent enough. Win, lose, draw, win, lose draw - it's not what we're about so we need to get back to that consistency of performance that can keep us challenging.

"I said to the players before the game this was a really good benchmark for us because if we can get out of our division there's teams at the top end of League One like Birmingham and Huddersfield who are on a par with the Hulls, so it gives us an indication of how close we are or how far we are away.

"We've just got to build off the performance today and take it into the remaining league games. We want to try and put a group together than can go now and have a run. Walsall (in League Two) are gone and it's only them who have been consistent and we want to be that next one, the one that puts that consistent run together. I mean strong, unbeaten runs.

"That's the benchmark today - what we did out of possession because I know the attacking and midfield players will create and score goals."