Grant McCann was grateful for his Doncaster side’s set-piece prowess after Joe Ironside’s stoppage-time penalty earned them a 2-1 win at Swindon.
The striker scored his first league goal of the season when he hammered in from the spot after Miguel Freckleton handled in the dying seconds.
Swindon had looked good for a point after Harry Smith had levelled following Joseph Olowu’s opener from a corner, but Ironside’s spot-kick kept Rovers second in League Two.
McCann said: “All that was missing from the fantastic performance was the last bit.
“We got into the final third easily but the last pass wasn’t there, the shot wasn’t there – the last little bit of quality needed to score wasn’t there.
“But we win the game off two set plays and that’s what you have to do to keep yourself in and around the top end of this division.
“You have to score in a set play if you’re not going to score from open play.”
And McCann felt the result was the right one after his players stuck to their plan.
“We were a little bit more expansive today,” he added.
“The goal Swindon scored was probably the only real big chance they had in the game, I’m not trying to be disrespectful.
“But we were really good defensively and looked organised. And I thought we played well and delivered the plan.”
Swindon boss Mark Kennedy felt differently and claimed a point would have been a fair result, but he admitted his side let themselves down with their set-piece defending.
“I am bitterly disappointed,” he said after the end of the Robins’ three-match unbeaten run in the league.
“I thought the least we deserved was a draw. That’s a real, real tough one to take.
“I don’t think teams dominate us on set-pieces. I don’t think we struggle aerially with that.
“All the goals you look at, they’re really poor errors. We’ve really let ourselves down today.
“We’ve played a team that was second in the league today and we’ve matched them all over the park.”
