Gary McSheffrey hails 'togetherness in abundance' from Doncaster Rovers in victory in big Shrewsbury Town clash

And he was delighted with the battling spirit of his players who knew full well the significance of the fixture, despite his efforts.

Joseph Olowu’s 79th minute header was enough for Rovers to secure a first league win in eight attempts, move off the foot of League One and claw the gap to safety and the Shrews back to three points.

Rovers were the better side in the first half before riding a wave of pressure after the break until Olowu headed home a Branden Horton corner.

"We knew it was a big game," he said.

"We tried to play it down a bit because it's only three points but when it's head to head with a rival it's the difference between three points and nine points behind them so it was important.

"The lads realised that. I'm just delighted because the togetherness was there in abundance and they went the extra yard for each other.

"Hopefully they take some real confidence from it."

Louis Jones produced a string of superb saves in the second half including a stunning reflex stop when Daniel Udoh broke through.

And McSheffrey says the goalkeeper’s efforts typified the battling qualities of the team as a whole on the afternoon.

He said: "We rode our luck in the second half, they created some good chances and we needed Louis to make big saves.

"We earned that from the first half performance where we were the better team and played some good stuff.

"I asked them at half time to up the intensity and take the handbrake off.

"While we've got them against the ropes lads, so let's not let the tempo drop.

"I think we played winning football once we got ahead. The decision-making was very good to put the ball in the right areas.

"The lads deserved that win.

“Shrewsbury always put such a shift in and cover every blade of grass. They weren’t as lively as they usually are.

“But we probably stopped that with our good play in the first half. We mixed it up well.”

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