"I cannot be handing laptops to them every single minute": Doncaster Rovers boss slams 'atrocious' start to second half in League Two draw with Swindon

ANGRY Doncaster Rovers manager Grant McCann said his side paid the price for an ‘atrocious’ start to the second half after spurning the chance to pull clear of chasing sides in the play-off pack in a 2-2 League Two home draw with Swindon.

Rovers led 2-0 after 22 minutes, thanks to a goal after just 19 seconds from Rob Street and a first league strike for the club from Joe Sbarra.

But some inspired changes from Ian Holloway saw substitutes Danny Butterworth and Joe Westley net seconds apart on the resumption to rescue a point for the visitors, with Rovers now just two points above fourth-placed AFC Wimbledon.

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McCann confirmed defenders Joe Olowu (thigh), Jamie Sterry (back), Jay McGrath (groin) and James Maxwell (toe) missed the game with injury, but none are serious issues.

Nonplussed Doncaster Rovers manager Grant McCann during the draw with Swindon. Photo: Tony Johnson.placeholder image
Nonplussed Doncaster Rovers manager Grant McCann during the draw with Swindon. Photo: Tony Johnson.

On the result, McCann - who felt his side did not pay enough attention to Swindon’s substitutes from a preparation point of view, said: “I feel like we have just got beaten, to be honest. It felt like a loss.

"I thought we were very good in the first half. We should have probably been more than 2-0 up. We controlled the whole first half.

"But the start to the second half and for it to change so quickly within five minutes - and within a minute of that first goal was just not good enough.

"We are bitterly disappointed.

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Swindon Town manager Ian Holloway, pictured at Doncaster Rovers. Photo: Tony Johnson.placeholder image
Swindon Town manager Ian Holloway, pictured at Doncaster Rovers. Photo: Tony Johnson.

"I honestly believed they were going to score again and that’s the feeling I had on the bench, I really did. I thought ‘here we go, they are going to get a third.

"But credit to the players, they sort of settled it down a bit. And I thought in the last 15 to 20 minutes, there was only going to be one team who were going to win it and that was us.

"But the start to the second half was atrocious. We can’t be starting games like that.

"We wanted to carry on from where we left off in the second half. Ian will probably say his subs have come on and made a massive impact and they have and the boy who came on the right wing (Botan Ameen) tortured us for two goals, while Butterworth and Westley scored and it was a good impact from his bench.

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"He will be delighted with that, but we need to get better with certain moments like that.

"We need to learn better. We have all the clips prepared for the players in the changing room and I cannot be handing laptops to them every single minute.”

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