'I don't know' - Grant McCann left scratching his head after Doncaster Rovers' loss at Bromley
Doncaster Rovers boss Grant McCann was struggling to comprehend how his side ended up losing at Bromley on Tuesday night.
Rovers bombarded the Bromley goal all night but paid the price for conceding an early goal: Deji Elerewe tapping in from a few yards out after Bromley recycled a free-kick.
McCann's men laid siege to the hosts' goal thereafter with the stats showing more than 30 attempts but they just couldn't find a way past an inspired Grant Smith in goal.
"We don't do the basics of football and that's why we conceded," McCann said post-match. "I said to the players during the week they (Bromley) are a team that don't play any football. The ball goes into Michael Cheek, they get runners off and they're effective with it. That's their game plan and we struggled with it in the early part of the game.
"The goal was very, very disappointing because we know that's a big part of what they're about. We coached the lads and showed stuff from analysis but we didn't stop the cross and didn't pick up in the box.
"The response after that though was excellent. How we didn't score I don't know. We must have had a record amount of final third entries tonight but none went in for us. We snatched at shots way too much rather than being calm and passing. I'm hoping our fans can see that we went for it, though.
"We're at that stage of the season where we didn't just come for a point. We came to try and win.
"I think if we take one of those chances early in the second half and we get the equaliser then we win the game. But we didn't so fair play to Bromley. They defended well. But it was a dominant performance from us, 20 minutes onwards. But I said if we keep showing that determination and that fight, we'll be in a really good place."
Meanwhile, McCann was unable to offer any clear update on the defensive trio who all exited early in London.
Jay McGrath, Joseph Olowu and Jamie Sterry all departed in the second half at different junctures. "We'll see how they all are," he added. "James (Maxwell) is obviously soldering on too. We've got Jack Senior back Saturday (from suspension). So we'll just see how they are on Wednesday when Dave (Rennie, head of medical) gives me an assessment of the knocks and bumps we got tonight."