Grant McCann takes positives of Doncaster Rovers draw – 'Nine times out of 10 we'll win'
Grant McCann was left wondering what might have been as Doncaster Rovers, but he hopes his players take confidence from a 1-1 draw against Luton Town.
McCann felt it was coming, as shown by the fact he left Billy Sharp, Jordan Gibson and Hakeeb Adelakun on the bench, but with only five minutes added, they were unable to find a winner.
"I thought the performance deserved a win, what I was pleased with was the attitude and application of the players tonight, all game," reflected McCann, whose side had lost their previous three games in all competitions.
"It was a better second half, but I thought first half we were on a better team as well. I'm disappointed to not win the game.
"The amount of opportunities and chances that we had is pleasing. I'd rather see it as a positive rather than a negative. We're creating the chances.
"I said to the players, somebody sent me a social media post about big chances missed in the division and we're third in that. A lot of people can look at that as a negative, but I see it as a positive.
"We're getting in them areas, we know we need to take the opportunities and chances, but we keep playing. Nine times out of ten we'll win games.
"I said to the players we've got to make sure we keep getting in them areas, not get despondent that it didn't quite break for you, or the keeper saved, or you've missed a target. The most important thing is to keep the players positive in a frame of mind that they keep getting in them areas to score."
Rovers had 17 shots in the game, having been slightly thrown by Luton's starting formation.
"We had to jiggle things around a little bit before the game because we didn't expect them to play in a 3-4-3," admitted McCann.
"I know they played it against Northampton in the cup, but they've done it in the league with a 4-2-3-1, 4-3-3. They can use it a little bit fluently with the right-back going high and the wide player coming inside the pitch.
"We worked on that and then when they throw a spring of surprise on you with the shape, you have to readjust.
"Maybe that caught us by surprise a little bit, the position of Palmer, and we didn't quite go in against him and we didn't stop the shot.
"But we got better in the second half, Glenn (Middleton) was a lot higher, Jamie (Sterry) was a lot higher, Mols (Luke Molyneux) and Elliott (Lee) were finding the ball, Brandon was causing problems, Bails (Owen Bailey) and (Robbie) Gotts were picking up every second ball.
"Even when the subs came on, they helped us and pushed us forward again.
"I'm really pleased with how the boys went about the evening."
And he felt his side might have got their reward if only the game had gone a little longer, adding to his frustration with referee Andrew Humphries.
"I thought we should have had a penalty in the second half," said McCann. "I thought there was a clear pull on Harry Clifton.
"The referee, literally two minutes before that gave a softer free kick for Owen Bailey in the middle of the pitch.
"That's just a level of consistency.
"How there's only four minutes added time (that was signalled but the referee played five), I don't know.
"There were seven subs, there was a goal, in my opinion they were time-wasting – he even booked Jordan Clark (and Liam Walsh) for it.
"Even some of our free kicks, remember the free kick on the edge of the box? It probably took about a minute and a half before we actually took it, by the time he organised everything around. For me, there should have been six or seven minutes (added), at least.
"Maybe, just maybe, how we were pushing would have got the win.
"I thought the referee was actually quite good but just little things let them down.
"These things annoy me and they just add up during the game which makes you frustrated."