Manager Dean Saunders spoke to Rovers Player after his side were knocked out of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy by Crewe Alexandra.
Rovers took the game into the lottery of a penalty shootout after Chris Brown turned in Evan Finnegan’s cross in added time to cancel out Mathius Pogba’s first half strike.
After the game Dean praised the way his side performed considering the players he had at his disposal.
‘We played really well considering we had players missing,’ he said
‘I know the rules are rules and we have to abide by them, but I’ve had to put players out there tonight that weren’t fit, to ensure that the club don’t get fined.
‘I tried to get the game called off yesterday because we didn’t have enough players to field a team but I have to say the players were absolutely magnificent.
‘We played really well but missed too many chances, but that’s understandable because of the people we had out there.
‘We have had a virus running through the camp, which has made it difficult because I couldn’t name the team until we got to the ground.
‘We hadn’t been through anything with the players and we hadn’t gone through the tactics - I’ve put a patched up team out there tonight and they’ve done brilliantly.
‘Josh [Meade], Harry [Middleton] and Evan [Finnegan] who have only trained with us a couple of times and Wakey [Liam Wakefield], who played centre back all did really well. We played some great football and I’m sure that the fans that came from Doncaster, on a night like this, have gone home pretty excited about some of the young players that we have got coming through.’
Although Rovers are now out of the competition, Dean admits it could be a ‘blessing in disguise’ in some ways.
‘We’re out of the competition but were going to count it as a blessing in disguise. We’ve got no under soil heating at our ground and we’re getting to that time of year when games called off and subsequently fixtures pile up. I’ve been in this situation before, we’re trying to get promoted, and the last thing you want is to be playing Saturday Tuesday Thursday Saturday because of it.’