Newfound ruthlessness, dressing room ribbing and other Doncaster Rovers talking points

Here are four talking points to emerge from the game in Lincolnshire:

AWAY DAY JOY

Rovers entered this game with the second-worst away record in the division. The last success on the road came four months ago but here, from the word go, Grant McCann's men were right at it and were well up for the derby clash.

On the eve of this game the Grimsby assistant coach Shaun Pearson alluded to how the locals were "on edge", understandable given they'd not won any of their last five on home soil and had leaked 18 in that time. So when the visitors went 2-0 up inside eight minutes you can imagine the mood among the home support.

Although the Mariners rallied, Rovers weathered the storm and made an equally fast start at the beginning of the second half.

McCann believes keeping the majority of Blundell Park frustrated was huge to the big win: "You could hear how quickly their (Grimsby) fans turned when we scored," he told the Free Press. "And then how they turned again when they got one back so we wanted to try and avoid that. The last thing we wanted was them to get an equaliser second half so the best medicine for that is for us to try and score and we did that."

Three unanswered second half strikes ensured Rovers secured their biggest away win since 2019 at Southend.

RUTHLESSNESS

Rovers motored through the gears second half to ensure a big margin of victory against opponents who were simply not at the races. For only the fourth time this term McCann's men scored three or more goals - and it left the boss delighted: "I said to the lads that when we went 2-0 up I hoped that we could go again and make it three.

"I think when we went 2-0 up that we went a little bit safe. But I said if we got that next goal after half-time that we'd get more, and that happened. I'm really pleased with the composure shown and the players' performance today."

Hakeeb Adelakun in particular sparkled, with a hat-trick of assists taking his output to two goals and four assists in the last three games.

THE PENALTY

The only bit of joy that the hosts had - or that Rovers allowed them - was when Danny Rose pulled one back from the penalty spot after Luke Molyneux was deemed to have felled Charles Vernam in the box. It gave a brief glimmer of hope to David Artell's side but was it even a spot-kick? McCann swerved the subject in his post-match interview but replays suggest that not only was it perhaps on the soft side, but that also that the original contact may have even taken place outside the area.

When asked by the Free Press post-match about the incident, Molyneux didn't sit on the fence, saying: "Soft! Real soft. I feel he's just tried to run into me. I feel at that point we were so on top the ref just wanted to give something. It's annoying but I'm glad we saw it through to the end."

HURST RENAISSANCE

Kyle Hurst has endured a tough campaign, with just a handful of league starts so far this term.

So the sight of him in full flight, taking on a defender and then bending a shot into the far-corner was a sight for sore eyes given his struggles.

It was his first league goal in over a year and McCann was delighted to see him back on the scoresheet - although he couldn't resist a tongue-in-cheek dig at the winger!

"He should have scored the first one!" McCann said, referring to a golden chance that Hurst spurned just minutes before his goal.

"The boys in there (dressing room) are giving him a bit of stick - he should have headed it to be fair. Look, Kyle is a very good player but unfortunately for him he's had an up-and-down sort of season. But he's starting to look sharper, which I've noticed in training. That's a real plus for us when he either starts or comes off the bench."