Schofield hails ‘desire’ as Doncaster end losing run

The performance may not have been to his liking but Danny Schofield was delighted with the battling qualities of his Doncaster side as they returned to winning ways against Tranmere.

Schofield’s side were second best for the opening hour of the game but two goals in three second-half minutes from Ben Close and Kyle Hurst saw them end a three-game losing run.

“That was the response I wanted from the players,” Schofield said.

“They showed a lot of fight and desire to block shots, block crosses, defend the box well. We work on that as well as our attacking play and the fundamental moments we did very well.

“We’ve conceded a few goals of late but in this one those moments were on our side. I speak about it quite a lot, the moments.

“Ben’s goal was quite fortunate with the deflection but Kyle took his really well. We know we’re a competitive team and we know how we want to play. We weren’t at the level we wanted, but that’s football and sometimes you can’t be at that level.

“We’ve played better football and lost matches. I think it sums up football in a nutshell.

“It was a really good result in the end, a hard-fought victory. I don’t think we played our best football but we won the game which was the most important thing after recent results.

“Tranmere are a competitive team and we ended up winning the game.”

Tranmere boss Micky Mellon felt his side let down the supporters who had travelled as they turned in a performance he felt lacked urgency.

The visitors were the better side in the first half and posed the greater attacking threat without truly testing Doncaster keeper Jonathan Mitchell.

“First and foremost, we have to say we never really got going,” he said. “We brought a really good support over but never really represented them well enough.

“The first half was a bit of nothingness from both teams, but we never found the tempo that has made us look a good team in games gone by. We lacked urgency and quality all over the pitch.

“We let the game fizzle away and gave away two really cheap goals, which is not like us, so I’m really disappointed with a poor performance. We lacked imagination and lacked quality in the full-back positions.

“We also lacked the magic and guile you need in attack and gave the ball away cheaply, while looking a bit lethargic. You could feel that the game was there for the taking but we didn’t take that opportunity.”