Gary McSheffrey says Doncaster Rovers must be brave to shake off home discomforts against Crawley Town

That might sound glib against a team 20th in the division and with a manager in Kevin Betsy whose career is only 13 matches old.

Doncaster will be expected to win, but dealing with expectation is one of the issues McSheffrey identified after they were booed off following defeat at home to Swindon Town.

An away game at League One Lincoln City in the Football League Trophy posed very difficult problems but manager McSheffrey took confidence from the 2-1 victory.

"Sometimes it's just mentalities – thought processes or confidence levels," he said. "After a couple of bad 'uns, an away cup game is probably a good opportunity to get a response.

"Now it's dealing with expectancy levels at home. The fans want us to entertain them and we've got to be good enough and brave enough to cope. Once we show the fans we're capable, they're straight with us."

It is a different thought process for a squad whose momentum has been going the opposite way since then-manager Darren Moore left for Sheffield Wednesday in March 2021 with the club in League One.

They began the season well, with four wins and two draws from their opening seven fixtures.

"You'd like to think everyone's got the hunger to get promoted if they're not already in the top league but some players do get used to not fighting for things," said McSheffrey. "I'd like to think everyone in the group is up for the challenge and can handle the expectancy levels.

"If you're fighting for survival for a year or two and all of a sudden you're fighting for promotion, sometimes the shift in momentum is difficult but we felt we got that shift in the summer and the pre-season.

"We've got to get the lads back to the confidence levels and structure they were at a few weeks back when we were hard to beat. The last few (league games) we've come away from that and lacked discipline but we've had that chat full in the face."

Midfielder Ben Close played the first half at Sincil Bank, his first football since November after a thigh injury which required surgery. McSheffrey is not ruling out throwing him in from the start against Crawley.

"Who knows when people are ready to start?" he said. "Sometimes you've just got to chuck them in.

"He played 45 minutes the other night – that was the plan, he probably could have done longer – but if called upon I'm sure he'll be desperate for a start."