Doncaster Rovers provide relief for Danny Schofield by ending home run on high

Rovers’ form over the final three months of the campaign has been poor, seeing them slip from play-off contention and put them on course for a bottom-half finish.

That has brought inevitable pressure on Schofield, who was therefore pleased to sign off his side’s home campaign with a win, courtesy of Tommy Rowe’s first-half strike.

Schofield said: “It’s relief more than enjoyment for me. To get that result at this stage of the season is a big relief personally.

"I’ll never stop working hard and never stop fighting and I think you could see that today from the players.

“It’s been a long time coming. We’ve been on a tough 14 games or so. To get that win at home, in the last home game of the season, is a really positive thing to do.

“I asked the lads to step up their game in terms of defending balls into the box, which we’ve faced a lot and conceded in that aspect of the game. We competed more in this one and got the win as a by-product of that.

“Even though we were under pressure, I did feel as though we were in control in those situations.

“It’s not a lack of effort why we’ve been losing, it was key moments and they had a real energy to get that side of things right.”

Doncaster Rovers: Jones, Faulkner, Williams, Rowe, Seaman, Biggins, Close, Molyneux, Westbrooke (Hurst 79), T Miller (Goodman 88), Barlow. Unused substitutes: Mitchell, Brown, Ravenhill, Degruchy, Kuleya.

Colchester United: T Smith, Chambers, Kelleher (Jay 80), Hall, Greenidge (Fevrier 60), Ashley, Read, Tchamadeu, Chilvers, Akinde, Tovide (Hopper 73). Unused substitutes: Dallison, Newby, Kazeem, Marshall.

Referee: Sunny Gill (Berkshire).