Doncaster Rovers: McCann pleased with first friendly at Alfreton

Rovers beat Alfreton Town 1-0 in high temperatures on Saturday thanks to a goal from Joe Wright.

But as much as the result, McCann was pleased with the progress made on implementing his style of football in the short space of time since his arrival at the club.

"I thought it was a good progression on what we've been doing over the last couple of weeks - especially what we did in La Manga," McCann said.

"I thought we got what we wanted out of it really.

"We knew coming here would be a good test. They've got almost a completely new team together at Alfreton and they were going to want to be impressing the new manager, as our boys were.

"I was pleased to come through it with no injuries. The boys have got 45 minutes into their legs and we move onto the next one.

"The heat was almost a leveller at times, playing in 30 degree heat, or whatever it was.

"I thought they stood firm.

"The pitch dried up a bit, although it is in excellent condition.

"We got what we wanted out of it."

McCann set his side out in a 4-3-3 system with plenty of movement and players flooding forward in numbers. Twenty two players each got 45 minutes.

The Rovers boss admits it is a work in progress but was happy with much of what he saw..

"The biggest thing is that we've been working a lot on our transition work," he said.

"Keeping two of our forwards, if not three, up the pitch so we can break on the opposition.

"We did it at certain times. We struggled at times because the pitch was a bit dry and we could have moved it a bit quicker.

"When we got into some of the areas in attacking play, I was pleased with some of the play.

"And I was pleased with the goal as well."

Rovers continue their pre-season programme with a trip to Frickley Athletic on Tuesday.