Doncaster Rovers 2 Ipswich Town 3: Saunders will look to reinforce Rovers to prevent any ‘bullying’

Dean Saunders will look to add some steel to his Doncaster Rovers side next season as they look for an instant return to the Championship after they finished at the foot of the table this season.
By The Newsroom
Published 30th Apr 2012, 10:15 BST

Tommy Smith was afforded a free header to open the scoring for the visitors before on-loan Hearts midfielder Ryan Stevenson scored his first goal for the club after the referee’s assistant signalled his 30-yard shot had crossed the line via the underside of the bar.

Fabien Robert and Habib Beye netted for the hosts either side of Jason Scotland’s second-half penalty, but Saunders felt his men gave themselves little opportunity to claim a positive result with an error-strewn display.

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“We started the game sloppy, I’ve never seen us misplace so many passes,” he said.

“I thought we played well at Coventry, we got a great result at Middlesbrough, we played well against Portmouth. If we’d have won the game – you can’t help it, human nature – you go away thinking ‘everything’s alright, we’ll be alright next season’. Seeing that just makes my mind up.

“We’ve gifted three goals again – it’s been happening all season. All the chances they got we gave.”

A perceived lack of stomach for the fight among his players was the factor that most annoyed Saunders.

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“I thought we got bullied a little bit,” he said. “James Husband made a tackle a quarter of an hour before half-time and got a standing ovation. That tells you everything.

“You can’t get brushed off the ball and accept it. You can’t lose challenges and just think that’s alright. You’ve got have a bit of steel and a bit of aggression.

“So I’ve got to sign at least four or five players so that when our football’s not working we don’t get bullied and we can compete.”

Doncaster Rovers: Gary Woods, O’Connor, Beye, Friend, Husband, Oster (Martin Woods 75), Hird (Bennett 61), Gillett, Coppinger, Hayter, Robert. Unused substitutes: Sullivan, Dumbuya, Bamogo.

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Ipswich Town: Lee-Barrett, Edwards, Delaney, Sonko, Smith, Emmanuel-Thomas (Lawrence 79), Stevenson, Drury, Murphy (Scotland 66), Martin, Chopra (Bullard 76). Unused substitutes: Carson, Whight.

Referee: Scott Mathieson (Cheshire).

Related topics:Ipswich Town