30 Mar 2007

Doncaster manager Sean O'Driscoll feared his side could pay the price for their quick start to the Johnstone's Paint Trophy final after being forced into extra time at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium.

Doncaster raced into a two-goal lead over Bristol Rovers inside the first five minutes.

Jonathan Forte slotted into an empty net after just 50 seconds before Paul Heffernan latched onto a long clearance from Neil Sullivan to fire across goalkeeper Steve Phillips and into the far corner.

Rovers looked dead and buried at the break but second-half goals from Richard Walker - a penalty - and Sammy Igoe took the game into extra time.

O'Driscoll said: "It was a great start but to be honest my first thoughts were that we might have scored too early. I watched the players' celebrations after the goals and I was just thinking 'calm down, just calm down' but we didn't.

"Despite being 2-0 up we never really settled. I could see us giving Bristol a way back into the game and we were almost made to pay the price.

"Credit to them though for the way they played. However, I thought that we did look the team most likely to score again in extra time."

Heffernan made a surprise comeback after a month out of action with ankle ligament damage and O'Driscoll paid tribute to his fellow Irishman.

"He was touch and go against Bristol City in the league last week and I had to decide whether to play him and risk putting him out of the cup final," he added. "That would have been a gamble so I did not do it.

"He has trained well all week in the build up to this and you only have to see his goal to understand what he brings to the table. It is something we have been missing and you can't put a price on that kind of player who can score you goals like that."

However, Doncaster's celebrations were tainted by the news that Jason Price suffered a serious Achilles injury that could rule him out for the rest of 2007.

Captain Graeme Lee headed the winning goal in the 110th minute and O'Driscoll added: "He can head the ball in both boxes.

"He is not the biggest in the world but he attacks the ball well and when it is delivered with that kind of quality it makes him even more dangerous."

Paul Trollope had nothing but praise for the way his side battled back but the Bristol Rovers boss also felt their comeback caught up with them during extra time.

He said: "It was bitterly disappointing to lose those goals so early and in the manner we did, but we knew we had plenty of time to respond and I am delighted with the way we did that.

"We have confidence in our own ability and we know we have players who can hurt the opposition.

"We kept playing football and played with a good tempo to get back into the game but it took a lot out of us and maybe that effected our energy in extra time.

"But we can take a lot of positives and a lot of pride out of it."