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• Grant McCann hails ‘outstanding’ response as Doncaster close on play-off spot

  Grant McCann was a proud man after Doncaster won 4-1 at Colchester to register a 10th straight victory and move into the play-off places.

  Colchester took a ninth-minute lead through Jayden Fevrier, who converted Tom Hopper’s cross at the far post, but remain in relegation danger after Rovers’ emphatic comeback.

  Luke Molyneux equalised after collecting Jamie Sterry’s short free-kick and scoring with a low 25-yard shot and Doncaster took a 22nd-minute lead through Harrison Biggins, who netted from close range from Molyneux’s delivery.

  Tom Anderson netted a third in the 76th minute at the near post from Hakeeb Adelakun’s pass, and Joe Ironside sealed victory when he converted after Sam Hornby had tipped James Maxwell’s shot onto a post.

  A point on the final day against Gillingham will seal a play-off spot regardless of results elsewhere and McCann said: “I’m really proud.

  “Obviously conceding early wasn’t ideal for us but the response was outstanding.

  “We scored two very good goals, the first one from Mols (Molyneux) and the second one was another very good goal and something we knew could help us in the game, Biggo’s (Biggins) runs from the centre circle in between the posts after good play by Mols.

  “In the first half, we were a little bit edgy and it was a little bit even Steven in the game.

  “But in the second half, we were really comfortable and scored another couple of really good goals.

  “We always play for more goals; we never sit tight and take what we’ve got – that’s just the way we like to go about things.

  “We came up against a team that’s obviously down the wrong end of the table and we knew it was going to be tough.”

  Fevrier had Colchester on track to secure survival but they go into Saturday’s final game just three points above the drop zone, with their goal difference superior by four over Sutton.

  Colchester boss Danny Cowley said: “It was a tough night for us.

  “We have the ability to self-harm, to self-destruct, in a game where we let four terrible goals in.

  “For 75 minutes, it was 2-1 and they’ve had three shots at goal, two from 30 yards, and somehow they’re winning the game.

  “We were 2-1 down at half-time where we felt we shouldn’t have been, as we’d done a lot right.

  “We were in total ascendency and they don’t even want to score any more goals, they want to hang onto what they’ve got and we gift them another two goals.

  “I’ve just looked back at the goals and they’re very hard to defend.

  “We actually played well box to box but you can’t say you’ve played well when we’ve conceded the goals that we have.

  “It’s a damaging night and I’m really angry. We just did the basics so poorly.”

• Darrell Clarke urges Cheltenham fans to get behind team in bid to stay up

  Darrell Clarke has called for Cheltenham’s fans to travel in numbers as they bid to escape the drop in League One with a final-day win at Stevenage.

  Tuesday’s 2-0 home victory over Peterborough kept their hopes alive, sealed by first-half goals from Joe Nuttall and Matty Taylor, leaving them two points behind Burton.

  They must win at Stevenage and hope Burton fail to beat Fleetwood and or Cambridge lose to Port Vale.

  “I thought the boys were magnificent tonight and we needed to be,” Clarke said.

  “Now, we take it to the last game of the season. It was a really good atmosphere tonight and the fans were great so hopefully we can get as many of them as possible down to Stevenage and fill the away end because we need everybody there trying to cheer us on for a win.

  “When I came in we had one point and no goals, so of course I would have snapped your hand off for this position with one game left, with 44 points.

  “The lads have been magnificent over a period of time and there is a real togetherness in the group, even when we took a lot of knocks recently.

  “We have bounced back and found that really good performance. We need to find that last really good performance in the last game of the season.”

  With their play-off spot already secured, Posh boss Darren Ferguson rested a host of regulars, making seven changes.

  And his youthful side were blown away in the first half by the Robins, who knew anything other than a win meant relegation with one game to play.

  Nuttall reacted quickest to bundle the ball over the line from close range after goalkeeper Nicholas Bilokapic could only parry Liam Sercombe’s shot in the 11th minute.

  The lead was doubled 10 minutes later when Taylor brought down a ball forward from Lewis Freestone and applied an expert finish.

  Taylor crashed a shot against the post in the 32nd minute after Liam Kinsella’s pass and Elliott Bonds forced Bilokapic into a smart save two minutes later.

  Posh threatened through Ricky-Jade Jones before half-time, but they were second best and Taylor and Bonds both forced Bilokapic into evasive action in the second half.

  At the other end, Luke Southwood parried Jonson Clarke-Harris’ shot in the 58th minute and kept out a late header from the centre forward.

  Ferguson admitted his team struggled from the first whistle.

  “They got on top of us and we couldn’t sustain any sort of control,” he said.

  “The goals were terrible goals to give away, you can’t give goals away like that.

  “We spoke about the first 20 minutes before we left the hotel – we had to see that through and try and make sure we dealt with them because we knew they’d be straight down our throats and they were and we conceded two soft goals.

  “There were certain things we worked on that we didn’t do well enough, but the goals were poor and you can’t give goals away like that, especially tonight because they got so much energy from it.

  “The longer the game went on and they hadn’t scored, the more chances we were going to get. We knew we had pace in behind and I have to say we had five or six very good opportunities as well.

  “Congratulations to Cheltenham, they go into Saturday still with a chance of staying up.”

• Barrow must stick together in quest to secure play-off spot – Pete Wild

  Barrow boss Pete Wild stressed his side must stick together to secure a League Two play-off spot on the final day of the season.

  The Bluebirds suffered a fifth defeat in a painful six-game winless run with a last-gasp 2-1 loss to Bradford.

  It means they have to get a result when they host promoted Mansfield on Saturday.

  Bobby Pointon opened the scoring with a great strike in the first half before Kian Spence levelled with a free-kick after the break.

  But former on-loan Barrow forward Tyler Smith came off the bench to score a bruising stoppage-time winner against his old club.

  And Wild said: “We didn’t do anything with or without the ball. We were frustrated at half-time. I told them ‘we’ve got to have a go and try to get over the line’.

  “We played really well second half, had a go, came out fighting and got the goal, but it wasn’t enough.

  “We were on the front foot. We kept trying to throw subs on to put impetus into the game and you get hit by a sucker punch at the end.

  “We had four chances to clear the ball and that’s been the month hasn’t it. There have been key moments in game, chances and opportunities with the football and we’ve not done that.

  “We weren’t getting a glove on them and we had to try and be braver, second half.

  “I will never make it about them, it’s about us. We’re all a collective. We will win together and lose together and that’s how we’ve gone through the season.

  “What we have to do now is just stick together and try to keep going.

  “Across the last four games you have seen glimpses of us, but not enough of us across a full 90 minutes to get over the line.”

  The Bantams were indebted to Sheffield-born Smith’s late winner for their fourth-straight win.

  Boss Graham Alexander said: “I’m pleased that the players have once again showed character and personality to once again get a win from a game we should never have been drawing anyway.

  “We were brilliant in the first half and should have been two or three up. But we weren’t and a good team like Barrow are going to come back into it and have a spell of pressure and momentum.

  “Ultimately they got a goal from it. From our perspective it’s a poor one to concede going through the wall.

  “Our performance became a bit flat after that. They had real quality and gained chances.

  “The subs that came on halted their momentum.

  “They were going for it as well and it was going to be (down to) who had that quality to score.

  “To be fair to Tyler, he would have been under massive pressure in his own head, but he stuck it in the corner so fair play to him.”