Nathan Tyson urges Doncaster Rovers to '˜stand up and be counted'

After fighting – and succeeding – in getting his career back on track at Doncaster Rovers, the experienced striker’s thoughts are now firmly on the collective cause, namely helping to pull the club away from relegation trouble.

Rovers head into Saturday’s six-pointer at home to fellow strugglers Shrewsbury Town on the back of a grim eight-match winless streak in League One, which has yielded just three points from a possible 24.

Given that Rovers, who went down in disappointing fashion at Swindon Town on Tuesday, started the new year with hopes of a possible top-six push, it is some comedown, but Tyson insists that feeling sorry for themselves is not in the equation and is calling on his team-mates to roll up their sleeves for a survival battle.

Addressing the task ahead of Rovers – one point above the drop zone – Tyson, who captained the side at the County Ground, said: “We need to start digging in the trenches and stand up and be counted. If we out-run and out-fight teams, we have a chance. We have to do the nasty things. We have to kick and punch our way through and be nasty.

“We have to get back to basics and work extremely hard. You can’t fault the lads’ effort in training and in games, but it is just one or two things. It’s about sticking together; we aren’t going to lose each other in the dressing room, but we are going to demand a lot more of each other.”

On Rovers’ latest setback, their fifth loss in six games, he added: “It was very disappointing. We find ourselves in a very sticky situation at the moment.

“We are conceding silly goals and just need to go back to the drawing board and move on to Saturday. One or two things have been said and we look forward to takeing it on to Saturday.”

Tuesday was also a disappointing evening for Bradford City, who missed the chance to move into the top six for the first time since the end of November following a shock 2-1 home reverse to rock-bottom Colchester United.

Phil Parkinson admitted that City paid the price for a lack of game-management and has urged his players to learn from it.

The City chief said: “The crowd were very frustrated and every loose pass was jeered, but that happens at every ground when you’re playing a team at the bottom. We’ve got to be able to handle that better.”