'Scrappy' win at Gillingham pleases Doncaster Rovers boss Grant McCann

Rovers narrowly but deservedly edged a contest that was low on quality – aside from a superb Luke Molyneux goal just after the half-hour mark.

The victory was a first on the road in the league since early December and a first clean sheet since late November.

"We've definitely played way better than that and lost this season," said McCann. "We didn't see a lot of our flair players – Charlie Crew, Joe Sbarra, Luke Molyneux (apart from his goal) – today. It was a just a game where we needed to dig in and we did that. It was scrappy. We weren't quite sure what Gillingham were going to do today so we had to be adaptable.

"We had to ride a bit of a storm which we expected but we stood firm and scored a tremendous goal on the break. We've dug in here today and got a good three points."

Molyneux's goal came against the run of play as he gobbled up a poor header from Armani Little, raced through on goal and lobbed onrushing goalkeeper Glenn Morris. It could and probably should have got much better for McCann's men.

Just before the interval Billy Sharp missed a golden chance to double the lead when he somehow blazed over from a few yards out.

Rovers now have a blank midweek before preparing for a Yorkshire derby at home to Harrogate Town on Saturday – a team they have not beaten in five previous league meetings.

"We lost our last league game to Port Vale but today we've responded," McCann said. "We've got a good group that can respond but we need to kick on now.

"It's not about putting your foot on the accelerator and then taking it off, then on, then off. We need to put it into sport mode and then kick on. That's the plan."