17 Feb 2007

Jason Price snatched an 89th-minute winner to complete a remarkable fightback.

Crewe had taken a 2-0 lead against the run of play with Luke Varney striking in the 32nd minute after latching onto a defence-splitting pass. Doncaster were rattled again four minutes later when Ryan Lowe headed home from close range.

But Rovers produced a determined second-half display and were given a lifeline when Paul Heffernan pulled one back with a splendid goal in the 63rd minute, before rattling home a twice-taken penalty to level the scores seven minutes from time. It set the stage for a dramatic finish and Price popped up to scramble the ball home to send the home fans wild with delight.

Manager Sean O'Driscoll was one of the victims of the virus, leaving O'Kelly to answer questions from the media following their remarkable revival which derailed the Railwaymen. He said: "We only had eight fit players the day before the game and for them to come out and play like that it just shows the character we have in the squad."

"The biggest bonus was that the manager was still on his feet at the end because he was in a pretty bad condition himself."

"We never thought we were beaten and I think we deserved it in the end for our performance over both legs."

"We just seemed to have a never-say-die attitude and it speaks volumes for the character in the side that we could come back and win the game when we had some players out there feeling very much under the weather."

Crewe boss Dario Gradi claimed his side "surrendered" after throwing away a 2-0 lead. He said: "It looked like men against boys in the second half - we just seemed to surrender. In fairness, they outplayed us from start to finish and the ball was in our box that much it was inevitable that they would score."

"It was very disappointing from our point of view and if we play like that for the rest of the season we could struggle."

"Apparently, we had a perfectly good goal disallowed according to the TV replays and perhaps it's fate. But we didn't play very well and they deserved to win."

"I like to create exciting, attacking teams, who keep the ball but we didn't do that at all. That is what disappoints me. Yes, of course, I want to get to the final and win the trophy, but I really didn't think we deserved to get through."

"Credit to Doncaster. I thought they played ever so well and showed what a good team they are. They would have been disappointed to have lost this match with the possession they had."