Paul Dickov breathed a huge sigh of relief at full time after finally seeing Rovers shake the home form monkey off their backs.
Six long months separated Saturday’s thrilling 3-2 triumph over Chesterfield from Rovers’ last victory in front of their own support, against Sheffield Wednesday back in March.
Although in recent weeks he had attempted to play down concern over the lack of victories at the Keepmoat, Dickov admitted he was relieved to see his side end their sorry run.
“It’s a massive relief,” he said. “Especially winning at home. It was really important to get that monkey off our backs.
“That was a big result for us.
“We felt that we should have won against Crawley on Tuesday night and we were disappointed to come away with the draw.
“By hook or by crook we wanted to get the result and win the game. Thankfully we’ve done that.”
For all Dickov’s relief, he could not hide his frustration at the manner in which Chesterfield were allowed back into the game, particularly in the second half.
After Jamie McCombe netted Rovers’ third - after first half strikes from Nathan Tyson and Kyle Bennett - early after the break, the Spireites were largely on top and threatened a remarkable comeback.
And Dickov was far from complimentary about some of the decision-making shown by his players.
He said: “When we went 2-0 and 3-1 up for some reason we stopped doing the things we had been doing so well and didn’t manage the game well enough.
“We dropped deeper and deeper and in the last 15 minutes I was amazed with some of the things I saw in game management - players sprinting to take throw-ins, midfielders playing as strikers and full backs playing as wingers.
“I know some of them are young and naive but they need to learn from that.”