Luke Molyneux: 'Under Gary McSheffrey Doncaster Rovers weren't fully aware of where we needed to be or what type of football we were playing. Under Danny Schofield we've definitely got that belief and knowledge'

McSheffrey was sacked in mid-October, and Saturday's game at bottom-of-League Two Colchester United is Danny Schofield's sixth as his replacement.

Molyneux says he has done a good job getting ideas across in that time.

"The lads all know exactly what they need to do with and without the ball," he says.

"As soon as the opposition have the ball everyone knows where they need to be, who they need to press, where the next pass is going to go.

"Before I'd say we weren't fully aware of where we needed to be or what type of football we were playing. Under this manager we've definitely got that belief and knowledge.

"I feel like it starts in training. Straight away we had lots of meetings and loads of tactical stuff to teach us what we had to do.

"The Crewe game was a bit up in the air. It was our first game so we didn't really know what we needed to do but in the next game, although we got beaten, I thought the performance against Stevenage was one of the better performances this season, we were just unlucky not to win.

"I feel like everything clicked for us and all the combinations were there, we were just unlucky.

"There's been a lot of games where we've not got the result and we've been booed but then we still got clapped off. I think the fans could see how well we played.

"We could see if we kept those performances up, results would come and we got the result against Gillingham. The result against Kings Lynn (beaten in the FA Cup) was poor but Grimsby showed we could do it again.

"We just need to keep doing that in the league and we'll get results."

Molyneux has essentially gone from a winger in a 4-2-3-1 to an inside-forward in a 3-4-2-1.

"The way we play suits me a lot more and a lot of our players like to play the ball on the ground," he says. "We've got the players to do that.

"It's enjoyable to watch and it gets results as well. It's a lot tougher than I thought with the way we run around to win the ball back but you get the benefits, you get a lot more chances."

Tommy Rowe and Joseph Olowu could be back from injury at Layer Road.

Then, on Monday, the players will gather to watch England's opening World Cup game against Iran.

The main aim is to be less of a team, more a club bonding session but there will be other benefits too, especially for Sunderland academy graduate Molyneux.

"When I was about 15, 16 at Sunderland there were points where I used to train with Jordan Pickford and we got on well," he says.

"It's good to see a lad where you're from get to the World Cup, the same with Jordan Henderson. Hopefully they bring it home.

"It just shows what can happen. A lot of players in that England squad have dropped down the leagues."​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

And as Schofield added: "The game is the best teacher so watching a game of football can be used as a coaching session if you're open-minded enough to see it like that.”