Grant McCann says his Doncaster Rovers team are heading in the right direction but will probably never be the team he wants them to be.

Rovers host Notts County this evening still looking for their first win of the season – even when they knocked Stockport County out of the League Cup it was only on penalties.

McCann, inset, can sometimes be cuttingly critical of his side after matches, but he found positives after Saturday's 2-2 draw at Stevenage, and reason to believe they will get better again versus a Magpies team who got their first win of 2026-27 that afternoon.

"I was disappointed we didn't win on Saturday," said McCann, whose side came from 1-0 down to lead 2-1 in the 80th minute.

HIGH STANDARDS: Doncaster Rovers manager Grant McCann (Image: Jonathan Gawthorpe)

placeholder image — HIGH STANDARDS: Doncaster Rovers manager Grant McCann (Image: Jonathan Gawthorpe)

"We conceded again off a corner we don't quite get hold of.

"I thought we were the better team second half, we took much more responsibility on the ball.

"We showed a wee bit more what we are. In each game we've improved, that second half we've improved (from the first).

"That's the only thing you can ask of your teams. You don't want to be going the other way.

GOALS: Jack Senior (Image: Pete Norton/Getty Images)

"I think we're improving all the time."

McCann is still hoping to add to his squad before Tuesday's 11pm transfer deadline but is realistic enough to know that there will always be faults to pick over in any performance his team produces.

On Saturday, it was the "softness" of Stevenage’s set-piece goals which irked him.

"You'll never have a complete performance," he conceded. "Very, very rarely do you have a complete performance.

"Even if we had won four or 5-0 I would probably talk about something we can do better.

"That's why this game is such a wonderful game, you're always trying to improve.

"But there were elements of our performance in the second half, particularly the bravery and the calmness and the tempo we played at that were much better than the first."

Jack Senior says there is belief in the dressing room too that a first win is not far away.

"I do believe it's coming,” said left-back Senior. “It's definitely not the start we wanted but the feeling in the changing room is it is coming and all it takes is one win and then I think it's going to cone from there.

"To achieve that there's got to be a belief and there's more than enough belief.

"We’ve just got to, as the cliche goes, focus on Tuesday now and take the point and move on."

Senior scored his second goal of the season at Broadhall Way, and the defender is hoping he can contribute more on that front.

"It's being given the freedom and the licence by the manager," he said. "He's a big advocate of the full-backs joining in and giving us licence to bomb on. It's something I'm trying to implement in my game.

"It's something I've always been trying to do and maybe there's a bit of luck involved – the harder you work, the luckier you are. Not too much has changed for me."