Paul Dickov reflects on his sides 2-0 defeat to The Imps.
Goals from Jordan Burrow and Alan Power gave Lincoln City a 2-0 win over Paul Dickov's side in their pre season friendly.It was the second match in four days for the Rovers squad, who have had an intense start to their pre season training, but manager Dickov said that this still does not excuse the "poor football" that was played today.
“We want to win every game we can, but it’s pre season. The boys have only been back in full training for 12 days.
"There was a lot of poor football out there today but I think the best thing for us to do is forget about it and continue our hard work in Portugal next week.
“The players have all worked extremely hard in training this week but they knew they only had 45 minutes each to play, it shouldn't have taken them as long as it did to get into the game.
“I thought we lacked energy today. Maybe that is a sign of how hard they have worked this week because we have pushed them to the limit, but tiredness isn’t an excuse for me in pre season.We should have done better.
"Sometimes it’s good getting a result like this in pre season, it can help me in my thinking going forward.
“We’ll have a good week in Portugal and try and put a few things right out there.
“Having a lot of trialists in can sometimes cause a bit of disruption as players aren’t used to working with each other so I will take that on board, but we still expect everyone to go out and try to do the right things and play the right football."
The good news for Doncaster Rovers is that the defeat saw Harry Forrester get 45 minutes football under his belt after a frustrating season of injury last year.
"The main positive from today was getting 45 minutes out of Harry Forrester. He was a bit rusty at times and over keen in trying too hard, but we’ll build him up gently. It was great to have him back and is a big boost for everybody.
“The most important thing at the moment is getting everyone’s fitness levels up, but that doesn’t excuse the result today. There are certain things that were missing both on and off the ball and they’re the things we aim to put right before the start of the season.
The squad will travel to Portugal tomorrow for an intense week of training in the Algarve heat, and Paul Dickov says it will be a "tough week" for the players who will then "step it up again in training on their return".