Doncaster Rovers v Lincoln City: Grant McCann has yet another target for players
Grant McCann is always setting his Doncaster Rovers players targets – and lofty ones at that. Now their place in League One has been booked for next season, he has another for them.
McCann is eyeing a top-10 finish, although with the first of three remaining games at home to champions-elect Lincoln City, on Tuesday he may have to settle for top-14. Either way, the standards never slip with the Northern Irishman around.
If top-14 sounds random , first-team coach James Coppinger alerted McCann to the historical significance this week.
"It's really important to finish the season well," stressed McCann. "It's a very tough game against the champions-in-waiting.
"We're playing against a team that's efficient, that are strong, that are powerful, dynamic, they defend well, they score a lot of goals, they're brilliant at set plays.
"But we want to give a good account of ourselves, see if we can get three points and delay their title celebrations for a few more days.
"We have an opportunity to see where we are in comparison to them. I feel like in the second of the season we've been strong."
It is more than just a feeling. As when relegation-threatened Rovers gatecrashed the League Two play-offs two years ago, he reset the league table midway through the campaign.
"We sit fifth over the last 20 games in the division which is a tremendous effort from everybody but as we know the blip we had mid-season lasted too long and any chance we had went over the Easter period," reflected McCann.
"We've still got a really good chance of finishing in the top 10.
"I constantly think about the missed opportunities but my wife brings me back to earth at times and goes, 'Look, you won the league last year, you're mid-table in League One.'
"Copps told me the last time the club got promoted from League Two they finished 15th under Darren Ferguson.
"We've got a little thing to try and finish higher than that but there's still that fire and disappointment in me that we haven't been better than we are."
The manager hinted at late-season experimentation, but not just yet.
"Maybe not so much on Tuesday because we want to continue the good form of the last few games," said McCann, whose side host play-off-chasing Stevenage on Saturday.
"I think it's important we finish the season strong, particularly at home."
Luke Molyneux's season is over with the winger set for double hernia surgery next week on a problem McCann says he has been carrying since August.
Billy Sharp was back in training this week, but Stevenage is seen as a more realistic option than Lincoln.
Bailey McCann was named in the League One team of the season at Sunday's awards night, where the blue riband prize of Championship player of the season went to Middlesbrough's Hayden Hackney.
Bailey was shortlisted for the League One prize, which went to Leyton Orient’s Dom Ballard. He also took the young player award.