Doncaster Rovers 1 Wigan Athletic 1: Gary McSheffrey on ‘big improvement’

The Latics have won six of their last eight league outings – drawing the other two – as goals from Max Power and Will Keane had the promotion-chasing visitors in command at the Keepmoat before Omar Bogle hit back for Rovers on the hour.

After disappointing defeats to relegation rivals Morecambe and Fleetwood Town, McSheffrey was pleased to see an improvement against Wigan.

“Last week against Fleetwood, our highest runner was 10.7 kilometres and I made it clear to them this week that isn’t good enough. That wouldn’t win you games in the National League,” he said.

“The best teams run the most and they’ve got decent end product when they get in good areas.

“We put it on a few of them this week and told them their running stats weren’t good enough.

“We nailed them on that and I think we’ll see some of the highest running stats this season.

“It was a big improvement on the work-rate, the fitness levels and the desire to compete. Set-pieces were massive and it’s disappointing to concede from a set play after not a bad start. Wigan scored at key times and you can see they’ve got experienced pros with their game management.”

Rovers still face an uphill battle in their fight for survival, with a trip to Cambridge United on the horizon tomorrow night.

Doncaster Rovers: Jones; Hasani (Seaman 69), Knoyle, Olowu, Horton; Smith, Galbraith, Rowe (Greaves 80); Barlow (Bogle 60), Agard, Dodoo. Unused substitutes: Bottomley, Blythe, Ravenhill, Kuleya.

Wigan Athletic: Amos; Darikwa, Whatmough, Watts, Pearce (Edwards 81); Power, Naylor; Massey (Kerr 81), Keane, McClean; Lang (Humphrys 90). Unused substitutes: Jones, Bayliss, Jones, Aasgaard.

Referee: A Young (Wilts)