Grant McCann was pleased to see hard work put to good use as Rovers showed an improvement in defensive performance against Grimsby Town.
McCann was frustrated with the ease in which Salford City were able to score three goals four days prior to the meeting with the Mariners and revealed there had been plenty of focus on the issues in training during the week.
And he was very happy with his rearguard as they shut out Grimsby on the way to a 1-0 triumph.
“It’s a credit to the players,” McCann said. “We conceded three here on Tuesday and over the last few days we’ve worked hard with the back four or five and the goalkeeper, watching goals we’ve conceded and asking why we’ve conceded them.
“We’ve put some work in on the training ground and I’m pleased it’s come to fruition.
“We want to build on that because we feel we’ve got players in the team that can hurt people if we can keep more clean sheets.”
McCann was disappointed with Rovers’ performance in possession but delighted with the manner in which they found a way to win.
He said: “I felt it was a scrappy game, which we didn’t anticipate. We wanted to be better than what we showed in the game. Fair play to Grimsby - they gave us a really good game.
“I thought it wasn’t a very good spectacle but defensively, after the performance against Salford, we were very good as a team. We defended well, we defended crosses, we got out to block shots, we kept people outside us.
“That really pleased me. I said to the boys that we were poor in possession. When you are like that, you have to stay strong defensively and find a way to win.
“Ultimately we’re here to win. We played really well against Salford on Tuesday night but we didn’t win. We played much better on Tuesday night and didn’t win. But we won today and I’m sure we’d all rather have the three points.”
