Story of the game as Doncaster Rovers lose at Accrington Stanley

“I think they’ve only missed out on the play-offs by a small margin in the last couple of years.

“The phrase usually is no one wants to go and play Stoke on a cold and wet Tuesday night but I think you can probably say that about Accrington.

“Luckily we’re playing them in August so the pitch should be good and there’s been no excuses there.

“If you go there in the frame of mind that you’re going to get the ball and play but you’re not switched on to the physicality, then you’ll get run all over.

“The two midfield players will run all over you, the two front players are strong, aggressive and never give up. They’ve got a wide player in McConville whose quality at this level is excellent.

“We want to go there and play football but we need to earn the right first. We need to dig in, fight, battle, win second balls to allow our quality to come to the fore.”

The strides made by Rovers in the space of a week were immense, but ultimately not enough to see them grab their first points of the season.

The performances against AFC Wimbledon and Sheffield Wednesday were chalk and cheese in terms of quality, cohesion and control.

But the familiar issues over a lack of firepower came to the fore as Rovers failed to make their control count at Hillsborough and Wednesday demonstrated their strength in depth and bank balance.

The impressive midfield and defensive showings should have given them great heart as they head to Accrington Stanley.

But this one will arguably be a tougher task than the one at Wednesday at the weekend.

Rovers’ midfield are unlikely to get anywhere near the time on the ball that they enjoyed against the Owls as tenacious Stanley will look to deny them space in which to operate.

It will be a tough one and it’s another occasion where the demands for progress from Rovers will be high.