Doncaster Rovers boss Darren Ferguson praises '˜game-changing' Alfie Beestin

Beestin brought his team to life and laid on both goals as Rovers came from behind to secure a much-needed 2-1 win.

The 20-year-old forward was making just his sixth league appearance since joining from Tadcaster Albion last year.

“Alfie made a difference when he came on. He was excellent,” said Ferguson.

“He’s shown what a good player he is.

“The recruitment we do and the philosophy I have in terms of bringing young players to this football club not only adds value to the players in the squad but sometimes you get the odd one that can really go on.

“I’m not saying that Alfie’s done anything like that yet but it definitely supports what I’m trying to do here.”

Meanwhile, Ferguson promised not to let Saturday’s victory paper over the cracks evident during a poor first half display.

“Lawsy made a couple of good saves and we made some blocks. The most important thing was making sure that we were only 1-0 down [at half time],” said Ferguson.

“It was a poor performance in the first half.

“After the game I wasn’t going to mention that [to the players] because you look at the positives.

“On Monday morning it’ll be different when we analyse the game.

“Certainly I felt we lost the midfield battle in the first half. And the goal affected us.

“That may happen. The team that I picked was young - we had seven players starting who are 22 and under.

“We just couldn’t get a foothold in the game.

“But in the second half we did that and we were a lot more aggressive in the middle of the park.

“We played some very good football, the second goal was an example of that. We were on the front foot and we pressed them a lot better. All credit to the players for that.”

Rovers travel to Rochdale tomorrow in the Checkatrade Trophy.