Grant McCann says he will drag his Doncaster players over the promotion line if necessary after being left thoroughly frustrated by the 2-2 draw with Swindon.
McCann’s side were in full command at the break following first-half goals from Rob Street and Joe Sbarra.
But substitutes Danny Butterworth and Joe Westley struck to draw Swindon level inside the opening six minutes of the second period.
McCann was furious with the manner in which Rovers let the lead slip away so quickly and promised to grab his players by the scruff of the neck to achieve the goal of automatic promotion from League Two this season.
“I feel like we’re going to have to do it the hard way and drag everybody over the line here,” said McCann, whose side are two points ahead of fourth-placed AFC Wimbledon.
“We lost our composure in the second half and didn’t do enough of the basics of the game.
“We tried everything we could to get the winning goal and we created some good chances but we’ve got to be better in those situations.
“But it’s the start of the second half that was really disappointing for me. It was very surprising for me.
“I certainly didn’t feel comfortable in the first half and I’m not sure whether the players did but the messaging at half-time was for more of the same.
“We wanted to play in behind them again but we never did. We just played into their hands.
“Their subs came on and made an impact and we didn’t take heed of that. For us, it’s simply not good enough – the preparation and focus of the boys.
“We have to be better and we can’t be having to stick laptops in front of them all the time.”
Swindon boss Ian Holloway admitted he may have picked the wrong team but was delighted they recovered to take a point.
He said: “I didn’t think we started the game as we should do, use our bodies as we should do and be aggressive.
“I felt I probably picked the wrong team because that was pretty much the same team for the third game in a week and I haven’t done that for a long time.
“Maybe I should have freshened it up because the lads I put on in the second half really stepped up and made a huge statement.
“It’s all about what you do. We had to change shape three times in that game to get us back into it.
“But I’m really pleased with the level of skill that we have to hurt a team as good as Doncaster when they’re 2-0 up. What a joy it was to see Botan Ameen do what he did when he came on.
“The frustrating thing is that we stopped doing what got us back into it.”
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