'Unbelievable quality' sees Doncaster Rovers edge past Crewe in FA Cup
Grant McCann was frustrated by Doncaster’s first-half showing at Crewe which left the League One outfit needing to mount a second-half comeback against their League Two hosts to secure a place in the FA Cup second-round draw.
Veteran defender Mickey Demetriou fired Crewe ahead just before half-time with a 25-yard drive into the corner after Rovers had dominated proceedings, although McCann felt his side were guilty of overplaying at times.
A clinical finish from Billy Sharp and a stoppage-time winner from skipper Owen Bailey completed the turnaround, but Rovers boss McCann admitted: “I was really frustrated at half-time as although we’ve played okay, the simple shot and pass looked too easy; we could have done more from an attacking point of view.
“But we showed two moments of unbelievable quality for the goals, the second one was a tremendous ball with the outside of his foot from Luke Molyneux and Owen, who could have had a hat-trick, finished it well.
“Overall, I thought we deserved to win the game, but maybe we were trying a bit too hard at times and we needed to calm it down at the top end. We were frustrated we’d not scored in the first half, but there was a great response in the second.”
Sharp made the most of Harry Clifton’s pass to beat Crewe’s impressive second-choice keeper Sam Waller after 54 minutes.
Bailey then had a couple of chances to clinch the tie before he latched onto Molyneux’s pass to finish from close range in the second minute of stoppage time.
Crewe manager Lee Bell said: “I am furious with the way they won it as we should have taken that to extra-time. There were some excellent performances out there and we came to life in the second half after starting the game slowly.
“I am disappointed as we all wanted a cup run, but there are so many positives to take from it.”
Crewe: Waller, Mingi (Hutchinson 59), Connolly, Demetriou, Finney, Thomas (Holicek 67), Sanders, Agius (Moult 82), Lunt, O'Reilly (Rankine 82), Tezgel. Unused substitutes: Booth, Bogle, Golding, Moore, Armstrong.
Doncaster: Lo-Tutala, Grehan, O'Riordan, Pearson, Maxwell, Clifton (Gotts 61), Broadbent, Molyneux (McGrath 90), Bailey, G Middleton (Gibson 46), Sharp (Olusanya 81). Unused substitutes: Lawlor, Crew, Ajayi, Senior, Close.
Referee: N Hair (Cambridgeshire).