Gaffer summarises opening day defeat and says Rovers must move on!
Darren Ferguson was eager for his Rovers side to learn their lesson and move on after a narrow opening day defeat to Accrington Stanley at the weekend.
Rovers, who missed an early penalty, twice levelled the game before they succumbed to Sean McConville’s late match winner.
“It wasn’t a case of us not expecting what’s happened but its just lapses of concentration that have cost us the game,” Ferguson said.
“The players are going to have to get used to it (the surroundings).
“The perfect way of dealing with it is getting out and not having to come back, no disrespect.
“We have to deal with it and that’s probably one of the big things that we have to deal with.
“There’s more than enough in there that have played at this level, this is a tough league and the players knew that before.”
The Scot sympathised with the 1,300 Rovers fans that’d made one of the shorter trips due this season.
“I thought they were great, absolutely brilliant as they always have been,” he said.
“They’ll be disappointed at going away without getting a victory or making sure we got something out of the game but they were fantastic.
“I thought it was a good game for us, away from home, its not that far, the pitch was as good as it will be all season so there were no excuses.
“We could have had a lot worse an away game to start off with but it wouldn’t have mattered if we had because we had to get a result and we didn’t so I congratulate Accrington and move on.”
Ferguson concluded by admitting he was open-minded over the possibility of further loan additions before the transfer window closes after handing debuts to Jordan Houghton and Niall Mason of Chelsea and Aston Villa respectively.
“We’ll wait and see, we’ve got a few injuries and I’ve got a budget I’ve got to stick to,” he said.
“We’ve still got another 25 days which is a long time. I’m keen to see how (Liam) Mandeville does at the start of the season too, I thought he did well.”