Grant McCann emphatically reiterated that the League Two title is his primary goal as Doncaster swept past Carlisle.
Rovers returned to winning ways with a 3-0 triumph to keep their automatic promotion hopes in their own hands.
Manager McCann has never given up on his pre-season target of his side lifting the title this term and their chances remain alive, with leaders Walsall visiting the Eco-Power Stadium in midweek.
Goals from Owen Bailey, Jordan Gibson and Harry Clifton saw Rovers comfortably sweep past their struggling visitors and cut the gap to top spot down to five points.
McCann said: “Our focus hasn’t shifted from the league title. Our eyes are firmly on it.
“I’m not worried about what people may think or if they’re asking why I’m saying that. That’s what we’re doing, that’s why we’re here.
“How are we going to do that? It’s going to be difficult but we’ll take it game by game. We’ve got a tough game against Walsall on Tuesday but we’ll prepare and focus all our energy and everything we have properly on that game.
“I think in any season you’re going to go through blips where you haven’t won. It’s not easy this division – every game is so difficult.
“You do think you need a win. For us to get this one so convincingly was really pleasing, certainly against a Carlisle team with a new lease of life since Mark Hughes came in. It was a tough game and a good win.”
Carlisle manager Hughes says his side simply cannot afford any repeat of their performance as they look for a way out of the relegation zone.
The Cumbrians dropped to the foot of the table with the defeat and ended the positive run of form that had been mounted since Hughes’ arrival.
“We weren’t good enough,” Hughes said. “We looked lacking in a lot of the elements you need to be good at to win football matches.
“I just felt a lot of the issues around us during the season came to the fore again, and I haven’t seen that in recent weeks.
“The last two performances have been really good and we can’t allow ourselves to go so far away from that level, which is what we did today.
“It’s difficult to take. We talk at length about what we’re going to do and how we’re going about the game but none of that came together.
“We started quite brightly and had a couple of good opportunities but it’s evident that we need the first goal because when we go behind, it’s a lot more difficult for us to keep coming back. The lads struggled with that.”
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Alan Sheehan says Swansea will not ease up despite reaching the 50-point mark usually associated with staying in the Sky Bet Championship.Swansea brushed aside bottom club Plymouth 3-0 with first-half goals from Lewis O’Brien, Harry Darling and Josh Key.The Swans moved up one place to 14th and, on 51 points with five games to play, are now nine points clear of the relegation zone.Caretaker b...
Coventry-born Jamie Paterson scored his first Sky Blues goal deep into stoppage time to move them back into the Sky Bet Championship play-off places with a 1-0 victory over Portsmouth.The midfielder joined on a free transfer in February after leaving MLS side Charlotte in August and his sumptuous volley earned Frank Lampard’s side a last-gasp victory.Coventry dropped out of the top six after...
Aston Villa’s Champions League dream is hanging by a thread after losing 3-1 at Paris St Germain in the first leg of their quarter-final.Villa, playing at this level of European football for the first time since 1983, had enjoyed a serene run to the last eight but faced their toughest challenge yet against the recently crowned French champions.They were dreaming of another famous night when ...
Yang Min-Hyeok struck in stoppage time to seal QPR’s 3-1 victory at Oxford and a first win in eight games as they took a massive step towards Sky Bet Championship safety.Ronnie Edwards gave Marti Cifuentes’ team a seventh-minute lead by heading in Nicolas Madsen’s corner from close range at the near post.Three minutes before the break the visitors made it two when Jamie Cumming s...
Swansea eased their relegation concerns with a 3-0 win over Plymouth that added to those of the visitors.Lewis O’Brien, Harry Darling and Josh Key scored first-half goals as Swansea moved above the Sky Bet Championship’s traditional 50-point safety mark.Caretaker manager Alan Sheehan has now taken 14 points from eight league games since taking the reins following the departure of Luke ...
Let's start our Daily Laugh today. When Just toon tried AI chibi Let's take a break from free-kicks, Captain. There is a bonus for D Rice. Raphinha snatching Cubarsi's goal to boost his Ballon d’Or chances Arsenal Real Madrid fans are not eating rice this season. See u soon bro Please stay tuned on Daily Laugh. There will be more fun tomorrow!(Credit: Justtoonit, originaltrollfootball, PL__O...
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