Bookmakers put them down as relegation candidates as soon as they had won promotion and even their own manager, Sean O'Driscoll, thinks it 'naive' to talk about anything but survival.

However, after two Championship games against two clubs with sights set on the Premier League, Rovers are unbeaten with four points from a possible six.

Had it not been for a costly late mix-up between goalkeeper Neil Sullivan and substitute Adam Lockwood on Saturday, they would have recorded a second straight victory after shocking Derby County on the opening weekend.

Lockwood headed the ball out of Sullivan's hands in a packed goalmouth and Cardiff's Ross McCormack scored an 89th- minute equaliser.

Of course, any team will struggle to survive if they carry on making mistakes like that but, overall, Rovers do not look out of their depth so far.

They are determined to play the same cultured passing game that won so many admirers last season and, according to midfielder Richie Wellens, they have players who are determined to prove a point.

The only problem they may have, according to Wellens, is a shortage of money to buy more top players.

Although chairman John Ryan under-pinned a spectacular five-year rise from the Conference to the Championship, Rovers now have to stand on their own two feet financially.

O'Driscoll has already spent his modest transfer budget for the summer – and, as yet, has started league games only with players who were at the club last season.

Wellens said: "We never thought we would look out of place in this division but the question is whether we can keep it going as the games tick by.

"It is easy to get up for the first couple of games.

"We have a lot of players who haven't played in the Championship, a few who have and didn't make it, and there are a lot of us who are trying to prove ourselves. Us, Forest, and Swansea proved last season that you can pass your way out of League One. The difference now is that Forest have a lot of money to spend so they can go out and buy a couple of strikers. Maybe we just lack, at times, that cutting edge?"

Wellens believes Rovers have the look of a 'Spanish side' due to the absence of any six footers and their desire to keep the ball on the ground.

As he also pointed out, Rovers enjoyed plenty of possession against Cardiff but rarely tested goalkeeper Tom Heaton.

"In League One, we got four or five chances a game but not today although we dominated, so we need to work on making more chances," he said. "We can take a lot of positives from the performance but it was a scrappy, poor goal (for the equaliser) and we have thrown two points away."

O'Driscoll's decision to stick with the same side that won at Derby looked spot on when striker Lewis Guy followed up his winner at Pride Park to score another against Cardiff at the Keepmoat Stadium.

Beating the offside trap, the former Newcastle United youngster brought down a long ball from Matthew Mills before hitting a fine half-volley over the shoulder of the goalkeeper and into the net. Rovers opted to try and preserve their lead rather than push for another goal and Lockwood went on as a third centre-back to keep an eye on Cardiff substitute Jay Bothroyd.

It was similar to the policy adopted at Derby seven days earlier but, unlike that occasion, it failed this time around.

Cardiff, last season's beaten FA Cup finalists, had gone toe-to-toe with Rovers from the start and both sides had enjoyed spells on top. Sullivan had been the busier of the two goalkeepers, however, producing two key first-half saves to deny Kevin McNaughton and Paul Parry.

Rovers manager O'Driscoll refused to blame either Sullivan or Lockwood for Cardiff's late equaliser insisting it was a 'team error.'

The blunder had not changed his view that Rovers had improved on their opening day performance at Derby.

"There was a lot of hype about last week's performance and I don't think it was as good as people said it was," he said. "This was more like what we could do and our performance probably deserved three points.

"People keep saying we have made a good start but you can't say that until after 10 games. This is only the beginning and another step in the right direction. Every game is a test and we have passed the first test."

Cardiff manager Dave Jones felt a draw was a 'fair result' but admitted that his side had also suffered from a lack of cutting edge.

Jones, however, should not have any trouble finding money to spend before the transfer deadline after the £5m sale of Aaron Ramsey to Arsenal and defender Glenn Loovens's £2.5m move to Celtic at the weekend.

Doncaster Rovers: Sullivan; O'Connor, Mills, Hird, Roberts; Stock; Coppinger, Wellens (Chambers 90); Hayter (Woods 89), Guy (Lockwood 80), Taylor. Unused substitutes: Spicer, Elliott.

Cardiff City: Heaton; McNaughton (Comminges 82), Purse, Johnson, McCormack; Ledley, McPhail, Scimeca (Thompson 76), Kennedy; Parry, Whittingham (Bothroyd 69). Unused substitutes: Blake, Enckelman.



Referee: M Halsey (Lancashire).