Doncaster Rovers need to become stronger in body and mind, says Tommy Rowe

Rotherham and Doncaster are likely to be two divisions apart next season, with the 5-0 scoreline only increasing the fears for bottom-of-the-table Rovers and increasing expectations for the Millers, who sit top of League One.

The physicality of Paul Warne’s side impressed Rowe the most.

“We’ve faced two or three really good sides whose strengths make them outliers in this league,” he argued. “You can’t match them for physicality. We don’t have anyone as big as that with Tom Anderson out.

“How do you deal with that? You put two players on one and it’s going to leave somewhere on the pitch underloaded and that’s probably how they worked us out.

“When they go fast with their wing-backs they pushed us back at times and they’re aggressive in midfield. They’re very good at what they do and let’s face it, when you’re winning every week, things become easy.

“A big thing this season for us is there’s been a lot of talk about our fitness and we’ve really worked on it in the last five or six games but fitness is a lot easier when you’re winning games.

“I’ve played in wins and felt like I’ve only done 9k and in losses I’ve done 12. It’s so hard the mindset of it.”

As well as Tuesday’s 5-0 defeat, Doncaster have also lost 6-0 twice this season. Manager Gary McSheffrey said he thought his team “lost heart” when Chiedozie Ogbene scored Rotherham’s third after 72 minutes, and Rowe admits that must improve.

“We’ve just sometimes got to sit in there, hold out and hit them on the break,” he said.

“MK Dons was like that and we hurt teams. The players coming in will be even better on the counter but you’ve got to change sometimes.

“Remaining in the mindset that we can keep a clean sheet from 3-0 down and building on that is tough.”