Grant McCann admits he'll be left wondering what might have been after his Doncaster Rovers side saw their Carabao Cup journey end at the third round stage away at Tottenham Hotspur.
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Rovers were on the end of a rather harsh 3-0 scoreline against the Europa League champions. Two quickfire goals inside three first half minutes – a Joao Palhinha overhead kick and a Jay McGrath own goal - had the visitors on the ropes but they stood firm and came close on a couple of occasions with Owen Bailey seeing a shot tipped on to a post and a Glenn Middleton just whistling wide. A late Brennan Johnson breakaway goal added gloss for Thomas Frank’s side but merely rubbed salt in the wounds of McCann's men.
Speaking post-match the Northern Irishman reflected: "I thought we had a really good start with a couple of good chances, but then I was disappointed by the first goal as it was a couple of mistakes that leads to it and Palhinha just hooks it back in.
"The second goal is disappointing too. I don't think we made it hard enough for them to score against us tonight. But the second half I thought it was excellent and we were in control and took the ball more. We were braver than the first half and structured in terms of our press and that gave us more control. A lot of their chances came from long-throws, set-plays or shots from the edge of the box and I've said that to the players that we need to work more on that in training."
McCann admits he would have liked his side to show a bit more belief, adding: "It just shows us the levels tonight but it was unbelievable to test ourselves against this kind of opposition. I just wish the players had believed in themselves a bit more because if they had done for longer periods I think the game could have been a bit closer in terms of the scoreline. That said, I enjoyed watching my players second half in terms of composure and control.
"Bails had a shot denied by a world-class save - it really is - to get down and tip it onto the post first half. That may have sparked us and made it a bit more interesting the second half but I think the difference was the quality of Spurs, which we saw particularly first half."
Rovers were backed by a sold-out away end that was vocal all night in North London.
"To see 4,000 coming down tonight was amazing and I'm disappointed we didn't get a goal for them because I think that would have been the icing on the cake," added McCann.
The manager also confirmed that Toyosi Olusanya suffered a dead leg and that Ben Close had picked up a slight, unspecified knock but that he doesn't believe either is a serious injury.