“It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.” So said Doncaster Rovers boss Grant McCann, speaking to BBC Radio Sheffield, back in August, after his side came out of their fourth game of the nascent campaign with just a point to show for themselves. Boy was he right about that.
Going into their 30th game of the season, less than three months ago, under-performing and miserable Doncaster Rovers sat 22nd in League Two, seven points outside the relegation zone.
Doncaster were the second lowest-scoring side in the division, behind only rock-bottom Forest Green, and had been unable to earn themselves more than a point per game.
Resurgent Doncaster Rovers 'playing with freedom and expression'
Donny had just drawn with Sutton United, one place below them in the table and inside the relegation zone, and had only done so thanks to a 98th-minute penalty. If their opposition that day went on to string a couple of wins together – fans would have feared – Doncaster would be at risk of dropping into the National League.
When McCann had said at a fan event at the beginning of January that the goal was to go for the play-offs, the Rovers supporters in attendance unanimously laughed. They had just lost 3-1 away to mid-table Harrogate Town. Ridiculous. Delusional. Literally laughable.
So... just what the hell has gone on there, then? How has a side with just eight wins in their first 29 games managed to become comfortably the best side in the division, with 41 points from their past 16 games, and just one game away from breaking a club record that has stood since 1946/47 by claiming an 11th consecutive league victory?
“We’ve always had one of the best squads,” Rovers fan Chris Donald tells FourFourTwo. “We just weren’t ever able to use it in the first half of the season.”
Injuries were the culprit there: only three players have started more than 30 games for Doncaster this season, which mercifully for them includes top scorer Joe Ironside. Had he not been playing and scoring consistently through their dreadful autumn and winter, things might have been even more bleak for Rovers.
The defence was particularly hard-hit by injuries until recently. Right-back Jamie Sterry started on the opening day, but injured his toe ligaments and did not return until December; he has come back to reclaim his place and claim three assists.
On the other flank, James Maxwell suffered an early-season knee injury that kept him out for two months, came back for two games, then had a relapse that kept him out for a further six weeks.
It was a similar story for captain and centre-back Richard Wood, who played just once between the beginning of September and the beginning of February after suffering back-to-back calf injuries. The trio have missed just two games between them since Doncaster’s revival began at the beginning of February, significantly bolstering McCann’s side's defensive form.
They have been aided by the January loan signings of Matthew Craig, a tackling machine of a midfielder from Tottenham, and goalkeeper Thimothee Lo-Tutala, who has kept seven clean sheets and conceded just 14 goals in his 17 appearances since coming in from Hull City.
Ask any player or manager, and they’ll tell you that getting your defence solid can be all you need to empower your attacking players to do their thing. Add in that McCann is now able to field a settled, consistent side, and Donny are finally living up to the potential they always had.
They have had a little push along their way, though. McCann has put his side’s winning run down to his side ‘playing with freedom and expression’.
Hakeeb Adelakun, on the other hand, has been an absolute revelation. The forward was sent out on loan by League One Lincoln City after a so-so first half of the season in which he was in and out of the side and scored just three times in 19 outings.
Since his move to Rovers, barely a game has gone by without Adelakun claiming a goal or an assist from the wing: he has nine goals and seven assists in 17 starts.
Ironside has meanwhile continued scoring apace, bagging five in Doncaster’s last four games to take his tally for the season to 19, while Luke Molyneux’s steady contribution from the right has gone into overdrive, with three assists and three goals from his past five games.
The big job still lies ahead for Doncaster. If they take their place in the play-offs, their form will make them deserved favourites to go all the way to Wembley and into League One – but things are rarely as straightforward as that.
That they even earned themselves a shot, though, is truly remarkable.
