Doncaster Rovers: Jordan Houghton convinced Rovers can '˜click' back into gear

Darren Ferguson’s side head to Rochdale tonight having not won in four league games and failed to score in their last three.

Back-to-back away defeats at lowly AFC Wimbledon and Northampton Town have taken some of the shine off an initially encouraging return to League One.

But Houghton, who could make his first start since rejoining the club on loan at Spotland, has backed Rovers to ‘click’ back into gear.

“It’s hard to put your finger on it [what’s missing] but at times we’ve shown we can knock the ball about,” said the on-loan Chelsea midfielder.

“This league is always going to be difficult. Every team is going to be a hard game.

“I think something is going to click and we’ll start knocking the ball about and start putting these chances away.

“The Northampton game on Saturday was a tough one to take because we did dominate large parts of it.

“I think we just need to create a few more chances and get that little bit of luck when the ball drops to us instead of their defenders.”

In terms of goals, Rovers have gone from one extreme to another.

Their current dry spell is in stark contrast to the 11 goals they scored in four games prior to the defeat at AFC Wimbledon.

“The goals have dried up a little bit but you’re always going to get that throughout the season when it’s just not falling for you,” said Houghton.

“We’ve got to have confidence in the manager, and the way he wants us to play and the way we know we can play.

“We’ve got to remember that last season we didn’t get off to the greatest of starts.

“We had a little tricky start but then we put a nice run together so I’ve got confidence we can do the same.”

Houghton, back from a cruciate knee ligament injury, came off the bench for the last half an hour at Sixfields after playing his first 90 minutes last week for Rovers’ development side.