Pressure, piledrivers and points shared - the story of Salford City 1 Doncaster Rovers 1

Pressure's everywhere at this time of the season. It's on those teams scrapping for their lives, on those chasing promotion and plenty is heaped on the managers who ultimately live or die by the outcome of it all.

In the early stages of this vital game in hand at Salford City there didn't appear to be any kind of pressure felt by Doncaster Rovers nor their manager Grant McCann. He'd adopted a bold 3-4-3 system from the get-go and the players set about their task quickly, as if suddenly unshackled by a change in approach.

After a few zippy moves, it was Rob Street who broke the deadlock in emphatic style, firing home from a quickly-taken free-kick that was clipped into his path from Owen Bailey. So far, so good. But then the 'P' word was their undoing. Not pressure, but power.

Luke Garbutt did exactly what he did the last time Rovers visited here in the league as he drilled home a free-kick from a central position just outside the box that was too hot to handle for Ted Sharman-Lowe.

That threatened to prick the Rovers' balloon and as well as being sheepish in terms of attacking for the rest of the first half, they could easily have gone in a goal down at the break. That they didn't was down to a perhaps slightly fortuitous decision by card-happy referee Elliot Bell to blow for a foul on Sharman-Lowe after Salford thought they'd scored from Ossama Ashley's header from a corner.

As the minutes ticked by that aforementioned pressure did eventually come to the fore for Rovers. Passes were overhit, shots were not executed cleanly. Errors crept in and Salford, who still harbour genuine hopes of a play-off spot, were always a danger as they looked to exploit them with ample midfielders capable of turning on the style. The most notable of the lot was ex-Rovers loanee Hakeeb Adelakun. An obvious target for the away end boo boys, he almost silenced the fans who once chanted his name when he smacked a post midway through a nervy second half.

Chances were few and far between for McCann's men to steal it. Luke Molyneux did his best but to no avail, while Salford's skipper Curtis Tilt earned a second yellow card in stoppage time although by that point it was obvious the game was edging towards a stalemate.

And so Rovers had to contend with just a point. It takes them level with Walsall in third but doesn't really do anything to deter the notion that this promotion race is going right to the wire.

That pressure isn't going anywhere. And it'll be stalking Rovers at Tranmere in three days' time.

Rovers: Sharman-Lowe, Bailey, Anderson, Senior, Sterry, Broadbent, Kelly (Crew 81), Maxwell (Nixon 81), Molyneux, Street, Gibson (Ennis 81)

Substitutes not used: Lawlor, Flint, Clifton, Sbarra.

Player of the match: Owen Bailey. Playing in a back three, he didn't look out of place. A dogged display from the stand-in skipper and an assist to boot.

Attendance: 3,030 (1,126 away).