How Dons coach Richard Horne reacted to his side's latest win against Rochdale Hornets

But head coach Richard Horne knows his charges will have to play better than they did against a weakened Hornets side who had former Dons boss Gary Thornton in charge for the first time.

“It wasn’t a great performance but we got the job done in the end,” said Horne, reflecting on a game the result of which was in doubt until the final whistle.

“A bit of our class shone through and along with a couple of special plays by Watson (Boas) it got us the result we needed.

“It was intense at times but I didn’t think that there was a lot of flow to the game. It was a bit stop and start and if anything that probably played into their hands with the players they had out.

“We made too many errors in the first half and their ruck speed was a lot quicker and we were fortunate to only be trailing 14-6 at the break. It could have been much worse but for several try-saving tackles, especially by Misi (Taulapapa).

“We certainly needed that try by Jason (Tali) just before the break. It was huge, though it didn’t change my team talk.

“We spoke at half time about the mistakes we had been making and gifting them good field position.

“We also spoke about trying to up the tempo and for a little period we did and scored two good tries but then we made another error and let them back in and it was tense at the end.

“We knew it was important that we scored first after the break because if they scored first then we would have had to change what we’d talked about trying to do in the dressing room at half time. Fortunately, Jason got over to help close the gap to just two points.

“Jason knew it was a big game in terms of where we want to be and he turned up today and when he plays like that he takes some stopping.”

The Dons, who will check on Alex Holdstock in training this week after the prop injured an ankle in the first quarter, could again be without play-maker Ben Johnston this weekend away to Midlands Hurricanes.

Fellow front-rower Keelen Foster, who suffered a knee ligament injury in last month’s game at Oldham, is expected to be out for another month or so.

Doncaster lie fourth in the Betfred League One table but are now level on points with Swinton following the Lions’ narrow defeat against unbeaten leaders Keighley.