Doncaster Rovers: Ferguson moves to reassure fans ahead of Shrewsbury clash

The Scot has recently spoken at length about his longer term plans for Doncaster Rovers, including altering the recruitment strategy and building a stronger under-21s squad.

But he insists he and his players have not taken their eye off the immediate objective - staving off relegation to League Two.

“I have to say to the fans that we’re focusing on the short term,” said Ferguson, ahead of today’s vital clash with fellow strugglers Shrewsbury Town.

“I don’t want them thinking we don’t think we’re in a battle. The players have been aware of it for a while. We need to get that momentum, which is a huge thing, back.

“We had the momentum, we’ve lost it and we need to get it back. It’s as simple as that.

“Sometimes things don’t go the way you want them to go, and this is one of those occasions right now. We’ve just got to be strong enough to see the job through.

“A key thing for me is that we’ve now narrowed it down to a mini-league, so forget looking over Fleetwood (in 17th).

“From there down, that’s the league we’re in now. Five of those teams we still have to play. So it’s in our hands.”

He added: “In an ideal world you win this weekend and you win the game in hand on Tuesday, you could be eight points clear of the bottom four and it’s a big swing.

“But at the moment we have to focus on getting that momentum back.

“Call it what you want against Shrewsbury - a cup final, a six-pointer - we have to win the game.”