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No reason to fear
THE big-name clubs that Doncaster Rovers will be doing battle with next season in the Championship hold no fears for midfield ace Mark Wilson.
And it has nothing to do with the fact that Wilson played in the Premier League for both Manchester United and Middlesbrough earlier in his career.
Wilson says that some members of the Rovers squad may have been subconsciously overawed by the reputation of some of the big clubs they were facing in their first season in the second tier of English football in 50 years.
He argues that fact could have had some bearing on the club's disastrous run of results in the first half of the season.
"I think that all of a sudden we started to realise that the clubs that we were playing were just big names and that the players were just players at the end of the day," he said.
"I think that I am right in saying that our record in the second half of last season was better than most, if not all, of the top six.
"That showed that we've got a lot of quality players at this club and that we've no reason to be frightened of anybody.
"As a footballing side, I think that we were one of the best in the Champ-ionship, and that also helped to build our confidence.
"Probably some of the lads questioned themselves prior to the start of the season as to whether they could hack it in the Championship.
"But I think that we all proved ourselves Champ-ionship players.
"Whichever 11 players turned out, it generally worked and that is credit to the gaffer and Richard (O'Kelly) and to the lads for buying into it.
"From Christmas onwards, it all clicked in terms of results.
"I wouldn't like to make an assumption as to how we will do next season because this time last year I made the mistake of saying that we'd be fine.
"In terms of performance that was probably right, but not in results in the first half of the season.
"What I will say is that if we perform like we did in the second half of last season, and continue in that sort of form, then we'll do okay.
"Then again, we want to improve season after season.
"We'll all sit down before the start of the season and talk about the areas we need to improve on if we are to move forward and further establish ourselves at this level.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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