Patience is a virtue as Rovers plot play-off bid

Doncaster Rovers' Dean Furman gets ahead of James Jones. (Picture: Steve Uttley).

The 25-year-old South African international bundled home Rovers’ equalising goal before Richie Wellens struck a superb winner as Paul Dickov’s side climbed into League One’s top six.

After comfortable wins in their previous two games, Tuesday night’s challenge was all about staying patient.

“It says a lot about our character,” said Furman, who played three times for South Africa in last month’s Africa Cup of Nations. “There wasn’t a full fixture list on Tuesday night so it was a big opportunity to climb into the play-offs.

“It was about staying patient in the second half, we’ve seen that a lot this season especially at home, you go a goal behind and teams come and sit back and its very hard to break down. We kept patient, we kept passing the ball and at times we just had to make that extra pass instead of forcing it. And that patience paid off.”

Furman plays as more of a defensive midfielder for his national team, but is revelling in the role at the attacking fulcrum of Rovers’ engine room.

With Paul Keegan protecting the defence, Wellens providing the passes and Kyle Bennett coming in off the wing, Furman is able to get up and support the front men, which is just how it happened when he prodded home Uche Ikpeazu’s knock down on Tuesday night.

“I’m going to try and claim it. I think it might have come off my shoelace,” said Furman, whose goal could not have been in starker contrast to Wellens’ sublime strike.

“I’ve actually missed one from closer in this season, at Crawley just last week.

“I think Richie had five or six shots. I’d been winding him up that he’d not been hitting that many too well but the one that mattered ended up in the back of the net.”

Furman is due to play another friendly for South Africa in March, after which he hopes to come back and help Rovers seal their play-off place.

“It’s a real joy to be a part of this squad at the minute, the way we’re fighting for one another, every man is fighting for his shirt and it’s a great environment to be in,” he said.