Rare January 'highlight' is a significant moment in Doncaster Rovers' tough season as Wembley gets closer

For the uninitiated, the chorus goes ‘January, sick and tired, you've been hanging on me’. Rovers certainly know that feeling.

In their last 13 matches in January, they have won on just three occasions, losing nine times. Just as significantly, the poor returns have proved the precursor to equally poor, dispiriting and rather worrying tail-offs in the final third of campaigns.

It is to be hoped, then, that the events of Tuesday evening have consequences which are fateful for different reasons.

On a Baltic evening, Rovers provided a welcome blast of warmth in their EFL Trophy last-16 tie with League One outfit Wigan Athletic.

After a grim winter thus far, Grant McCann’s side kept their competitive fires burning not just in terms of this particular competition, but also their season in all likelihood with their league campaign currently going nowhere fast.

At the heart of it was goalkeeper Louis Jones, who made a key penalty save in the shoot-out victory after the game ended 1-1.

Just prior to that, the Doncastrian had made an equally important block with the last action of the game in regulation time.

Jones’ smile and that of McCann when they congratulated each other at the end spoke volumes. It was a mixture of joy and relief.

A past winner of the competition in his playing days at Peterborough United, the Rovers chief will never be one to decry its merits. Neither are Rovers, who won it back in 2007. In a forgettable campaign, they are two wins away from Wembley. They face Bradford City in an all-Yorkshire quarter-final at the end of this month.

Jones, 25, who hails from Thorne, said: “I was quite young and can’t remember it (2007 final win), if I am honest.

“But obviously, I know of it and it would be brilliant to go and experience it and try and do it again.

“The gaffer kind of gives us a countdown before every game and he’s been saying: ‘Right we are four games from Wembley’ and two or three games or whatever. He drops that in and it’s something you might not ever get to do in your career.

“It’s the chance to get to Wembley and kick on now. We can win the tournament and we are good enough.

“We have shown that and we just have to carry on performing and concentrate on that. It can be a highlight of our season as there have been a lot of downs and this could be a positive for us.”

A hardcore of Rovers diehards who braved the intense cold on Tuesday night were rewarded by their side’s hearty efforts and subsequent progression.

It will have been particularly well received given a cruel and undeserved stoppage-time loss to visiting Newport County last Saturday, one of several blows which have rained down on McCann’s side – bedevilled by selection issues throughout 2023-24.

It is to the credit of the Doncaster faithful that support for McCann has largely stayed strong, despite the pre-season hopes of a League Two promotion tilt soon dissipating once the real thing got under way.

Many other fanbases would not have been so stoic.

For a group of fans to view a bigger picture is somewhat refreshing in modern times. It is something that the club’s staff and players, who have suffered at times, also recognise.

Rovers’ assistant Cliff Byrne commented: “From time to time, there’s a frustration there; we get that as staff and players do in the dressing room.

“But by and large, if we are going to achieve anything and be successful long term at the football club, we need to be pushing in the same direction and you can’t fault the fans on that.

“The fans have been immense, I really have to say that.

“We were speculating about how many people would come (on Tuesday) and when we came out at the kick-off, myself and the gaffer saw good numbers.

“It shows the trust they are having in the group and hopefully this is a small token of the repayment from the players back to the fans who come week in, week out.

“It was freezing out there and they could easily have stayed at home,” he added.

Rovers visit Trophy opponents Bradford on Saturday, the first ‘leg’ of a league and Trophy double-header in West Yorkshire in the space of a week-and-a-half.

On whether their Trophy draw will add a bit of intensity to this weekend, Byrne added: “It naturally does because we are playing them in quick succession and what is at stake in the cup game.

“But first and foremost, it’s the league on Saturday and the league game takes care of itself first and then we are away at the end of the month.”