Paul Dickov will be a happy man if his Doncaster Rovers side can replicate the sort of endeavour they showed against Bristol City on a regular basis.
Rovers had to settle for a 1-1 draw in Saturday’s FA Cup third round clash after Matt Smith’s header cancelled out Luke McCullough’s first ever senior goal.
But Dickov was thrilled with his team’s fully committed display against the League One high fliers, which extended Doncaster’s unbeaten run to four games.
“I thought that their attitude, application and work rate was outstanding,” said Dickov.
“I told the lads after the game if they perform like that for the rest of the season we’ll win a lot more games.
“We out-passed a passing team and certainly caused them more problems than they caused us.”
“We should have won the game. Kyle [Bennett] had a great chance at the end and nine times out of ten he scores that one.
“So it was frustrating not to win it but pleasing as well.
“I thought it was a really good performance against a team that are rightly top of the division.
“Steve [Cotterill] said that his team didn’t play well in the first half and that was because we didn’t let them.
“We’ve played worse and won games this season,” he added.
“I thought without the ball we were excellent for the majority of the game.
“We had a little spell in the second half when we sat a little bit too deep after we scored.
“I thought we showed a lot of composure on the ball too. We kept the ball and switched the play really well.
“So it does feel like a defeat, because we were so close, but at the same time I’m really pleased with the boys.”
Dean Furman excelled in his last game before jetting off to represent South Africa at the Africa Cup of Nations in Equatorial Guinea.
Meanwhile, Enda Stevens - another to impress on Saturday - has extended his loan stay from Aston Villa until the end of the season.