Doncaster Rovers fail as headstarts cost them but Grant McCann has brought precious hope

The story of their League Two play-off semi-final against Crewe Alexandra followed the plot of their whole season.

After his side’s 2-0 defeat and 4-3 penalty shoot-out loss, manager Grant McCann looked and sounded broken as he tried to comprehend what went wrong on the final night of a campaign whose last few months had gone so very right.

"I'll never get over it," he said. "I never got over the last one.

"I don't think anyone can put their finger on why we produced what we produced in the first half. The players know we just didn't get going."

When everything else was sucked out of him, one characteristic remained: a fierce determination.

"This club shouldn't be in League Two," he insisted. "Ultimately we haven't done the job and that's really hurtful for me.

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"I said to the players we'll be going to win the league next season.

"I said if there's anyone who doesn't think they can, tell your agent to call me and find a new club because there's no way I'm waiting for my team to get going for another three or four months like we did at the start of this season."

Disappointment can be the making of footballers and football clubs, and McCann has already spelt out to his players it must be for them.

"I left the changing room door open so the players could hear the noise,” he said.

McCann has had two seasons five years apart as Rovers manager, both ending in 4-3 penalty shoot-out defeats in a play-off semi-final.

After the last, in League One, he took a short cut to the Championship with Hull City. This time he seems adamant he will put things right here. No more headstarts.

At the midpoint of the tie, everything looked rosy for Rovers. Maybe in hindsight, too rosy.

Two-nil up, unbeaten in 13, winning 11, and brimming with confidence, they were the form side as well as the home side, cheered on by a 12,887 crowd. Crewe had won one of their last 10 games and not scored twice in any of their previous 12.

But if there is one thing less logical than normal football, it is play-off football.

Inside 16 minutes, Rovers’ 2-0 lead had gone, Mickey Demetriou heading in at a corner and James Maxwell bundling a Chris Long cross past Thimothee Lo-Tutala. Had he not, Elliott Nevitt would have.

It took 28 minutes for Doncaster to put on even a passable impression of the side which rose from 22nd in the table at the start of February to fifth at the end of April, Maxwell and Hakeeb Adelakun hunting the ball down and the latter picking out Joe Ironside for a deflected shot.

From there, they were much the better side, which is why it was shrewd and laughable of Crewe goalkeeper Max Styrjek to go down with alleged cramp midway through the second half. Luke Molyneux hit a post in time added to the 90, but Stryjek did very little in 120 minutes.

When Lo-Tutala saved Demetriou’s penalty in the shoot-out, Crewe's second, Stryjek squeezed Zain Westbrooke's onto his left-hand post, trickling in front of the line.

Ryan Cooney, George Miller, Lewis Leigh, Owen Bailey and Charlie Kirk dragged the score to 4-3 before Adelakun's kick was kept out.

It all came back to the same question: why could they not start like that?

"That's probably the biggest thing really eating away at me, the first half and how safe we looked," said McCann. "We looked like the team of four or five months ago. We were scared to make a mistake, it wasn't positive, we didn't pick up the second ball, didn't look dangerous.

"I said to the players it looked like we'd gone back in time to September, November."

And that was the point.

Ultimately, what went before the start of February, when McCann "reset" the League Two table and ordered his team to win it – they did, comfortably – cost them.

Injuries were a big part but McCann pointed to a lack of professionalism over the summer as to why many happened.

In all the doom and gloom was something worth remembering.

"Ultimately we've failed and that really hurts me to say that but it's the truth," said McCann.

Not the whole truth.

The stadium has not been as full since McCann's last spell, not as enthused for a long time. The crowd never stopped chanting his name.

McCann could not deliver League One football but he delivered hope.

If Doncaster can keep hold of that, 2023-24 will not have been a failure.

That is the challenge and this one demands a good start.