Harry Forrester has pulled no punches with his honest assessment of the Walsall misery - saying he and his Rovers team-mates need to take a look in the mirror.
A performance lacking energy, particularly in the second half, saw Dean Smith’s side rally to a 3-0 success at Banks’s Stadium as former Doncaster midfielder James Baxendale came back to haunt his hometown club.
Further strikes from Tom Bradshaw and Anthony Forde condemned Paul Dickov’s men to a tough away defeat as Walsall clinched just their second victory of the season.
And with just two shots on target all game - one of which came from Forrester - the attacking midfielder was not afraid to air his disappointment about the second half showing in the Midlands.
“We need to look at ourselves, everybody needs to look in the mirror and go out there and give a bit more. Myself included,” admitted 23-year-old Forrester.
The former Brentford ace was also not interested in excuses that Doncaster may have been feeling the effects of their committed performance against Fulham in last Tuesday’s Capital One Cup defeat.
“We didn’t get back from Fulham until very late but even so, first half [against Walsall] we were fine, we performed well without causing too many problems,” said Forrester.
“Second half we came out and went a bit too gung-ho too early and they’ve caught us on the break.
“It doesn’t excuse your performance in the end.”
It’s been a stop-start campaign for Forrester since his injury nightmare all but finished off his Rovers season last term.
Admittedly, two sendings off against Port Vale and Bristol City have not exactly helped the midfielder to cement his place in Dickov’s starting XI.
But the former Aston Villa trainee is keen to move on and insists he’s learned a lot from his two red cards.
“After that [Walsall], my place isn’t cemented but it’s a chance for me to now get a run of games together, get my fitness back up and my sharpness back up and go again,” he said.
“I’ve been bitterly, bitterly frustrated - it’s my own fault.
“I do apologise for the second booking [against Bristol], it was unacceptable, but it’s gone now.
“I’m not looking at injuries or red cards, I’ve just got to go and give it my all.”
He went on: “The gaffer knows how eager I am to do well, sometimes it’s a bit too eager and it comes out the wrong way.
“We’ve [Forrester and Dickov] spoken about the first booking [against Bristol], I’m not saying anymore on that, but the second booking is unacceptable, it’s through frustration.
“But it won’t happen again and I’ve moved on from that.”
Forrester, who is likely to feature in Saturday’s crucial trip to Scunthorpe United, is eager for Rovers to get a few good results under their belts to get over the last two away defeats.
“It’s about time we started to hit the ground running and get some consistency,” he added.