Gary McSheffrey says 'without being arrogant, it's what we expect,' as Doncaster Rovers get back to 'winning football'

Eventually, the result went as the League Two table said it should have done, Rovers shaking off James Tilley's equaliser a minute after Joseph Olowu gave his side a 41st-minute lead to win 4-1.

It ended a run of three consecutive league defeats which had manager McSheffrey questioning the mentality of his players seven days earlier. Throw in Tuesday's Football League Trophy win at Lincoln City, it made it a good week for Doncaster which made want went before look more like a blip than a turning point.

Asked if his team had sent out a message with the win, secured with two George Miller goals – one a penalty – and an excellent individual effort by Kyle Hurst, McSheffrey was having none of it.

"Not really," he replied. "It was just a good win. We felt after a good week, Tuesday's positive performance and win, Thursday good training, Friday's excellent training and a good performance.

"Without being arrogant, it's what we expect from the lads.

"It was a great victory, an important one to build on what we did on Tuesday, to get back to winning ways. It was an important one to win at home.

"I thought we controlled the first half with a lot of territory, corners, etc and went ahead deservedly but then we have to manage the game better – to let them back in straight away isn't great. The message at half time was to do the same thing, try and get on it, our front two were causing problems, Kieran (Agard)'s link-up play was good, they didn't have a clean header all game.

"It was nice for the goals to go in. The penalty, was it lucky? Potentially, but we'll take that.

"George's finish for the second was superb – touch, finish – and Kyle's goal was tremendous. Just as I think he has no more energy he bursts into life with a 50, 60-yard run and slots it in.

"I'm delighted with the win. It's been tough couple of weeks but we've faced a lot of adversity and the lads have got two wins in a week. It's been a good response."

Of the equaliser, McSheffrey said: "It just creates a bit of nervousness in the stadium. The lads just seemed a little bit nervous, they just wanted to get that home win again.

"Hopefully this win builds some good confidence.

"(In the) second half without being amazing I think we played winning football.

"You don't lose your quality, your class, your eye for goal, you just sometimes take a dip in confidence and that's what's happened the last few weeks."

Ben Close went off injured 75 minutes into his first league appearance since November, but McSheffrey revealed the midfielder was just suffering from cramp.