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• Grant McCann believes Doncaster are heading in right direction after Gills scalp

  Doncaster boss Grant McCann believes his side are only getting better after making it back-to-back wins with the 2-1 triumph over high-flying Gillingham.

  Two excellent strikes from Ben Close, including an 87th-minute winner, saw Rovers collect their first home league triumph of the campaign, a week on from finally picking up a maiden victory at Forest Green.

  And McCann feels his side are firmly heading in the right direction as they seek to make up ground on the promotion-chasing pack in the division.

  “We had to be very good to win and I felt in the second half we were as good as we have been this season,” he said. “I thought we were really in control.

  “We’re yet to have that full 90-minute performance. We’re still searching and that takes some doing, every manager will tell you that. Teams will always have a spell against you.

  “I felt that Gillingham didn’t really have much of a spell against us and on a whole, I felt the second half was a real performance from us.

  “I could feel the team taking on board the information we had given them, particularly in taking up the pockets of space to have that control of the game against a top, top team.”

  Gillingham manager Neil Harris is still looking for his team to find the balance between defensive solidity and creativity after dropping points in South Yorkshire.

  The Gills set the early pace in League Two with five 1-0 wins from their opening eight matches. But with Harris encouraging them to deliver more decisive scorelines, they have shown vulnerability in defence, which he is keen to see quickly banished.

  “In the last couple of weeks we’ve been a lot more creative, we’ve had sparks, we’ve shown class and we want to continue that because if we do, we will wins games of football comfortably,” Harris said.

  “We’ve won a lot of games so far 1-0 by being resilient. In the last couple we’ve not been as resilient as I would have liked but we’ve been really good with the ball. We’ve just got to find that balance between the two.

  “The winning goal for Doncaster – he stuck it in the top corner but it’s poor from the restart, and it was from the first. To be a top team in League Two, we’ve got to be better than that from restarts.”

  Despite his frustrations, Harris felt Gillingham should have won the game comfortably.

  He said: “I’m baffled how we’ve not won the game. We’ve not won the game because we weren’t clinical enough. We should have been coming off (with) four or five goals but if you don’t take your chances, you don’t win games.”

• Roy Hodgson ‘feels sorry’ for referees as Palace boss questions new directives

  Crystal Palace boss Roy Hodgson admitted he “feels sorry” for referees challenged with incorporating a host of new Premier League rules and regulations implemented before the start of this season.

  The 76-year-old returned to the dugout at Selhurst Park after illness caused him to miss last weekend’s trip to Villa Park, and disagreed with Fulham boss Marco Silva that the Cottagers were the superior side in Saturday’s goalless draw.

  Among the changes this season is a crackdown on having more than one coach inside the technical area, a decision Hodgson will still need some convincing to embrace.

  The former England coach said: “I feel so sorry for the referees. All these new directives, which to most of us who have been in football for a long time can’t really make an awful lot of sense, but they feel obliged to follow it through.

  “Little things annoy you. Why can’t somebody from the bench, one of the coaches, come and stand by me for 30 seconds to shout instructions with you before being told immediately you’ve got to go back to the bench?

  “It’s our job to do that, our job is to coach the players, work with the plan. I can understand if people are crowding in the bench in that area and making a nuisance of it.

  “But if you’re talking about someone who comes out from time to time to say a couple of words, where is the problem? How does football benefit from that?”

  The two London sides entered Saturday’s contest with almost identical records to start their season, Hodgson’s men having scored just one more goal than Silva’s to separate them in the table.

  Both teams had chances, Eberechi Eze firing just wide late in the first half of his 100th appearance for Palace while both Raul Jimenez and Willian were denied by Eagles keeper Sam Johnstone.

  Fulham squandered a second-half chance with an overpowered pass, while Hodgson’s introduction of Jean-Philippe Mateta to play up front alongside Odsonne Edouard failed to break the deadlock.

  Hodgson said: “I’ve seen many games like today lost by just one goal. We didn’t do that, so the positive is we can be better, we will be better and we got one more point in our bid to move up the table.”

  Fulham boss Silva, however, felt his side did enough to deserve more.

  He said: “I think overall during the game we were the team that created more chances to win. I think I’m pleased with the performance, just we have to be much more effective in our attack, when we’re in certain areas of the pitch.

  “I think we were strong enough with good organisation, very good work from our two midfielders and our two central defenders. Good work from our two full-backs as well.

  “I think overall we were the best team on the pitch and deserved three points, even if the game was balanced, of course, but the team that created more was ourselves.”

• Nigel Clough praises patience as Mansfield go third

  Mansfield manager Nigel Clough praised his side’s patience as they moved up into third place with a 1-0 home win over Barrow.

  Stags are the only EFL side unbeaten this season in all competitions but were made to sweat until Ollie Clarke drilled in the 72nd-minute winner.

  A red card in the 84th minute Junior Tiensia then sealed the Bluebirds’ fate.

  “We needed that win,” said Clough. “We are not quite as fluent as we were a few weeks ago, but you grind them out.

  “With nine players out at the moment, that is probably a good reason why we are disjointed at times.

  “But one good finish and you win the game – it was an important clean sheet.

  “In a few weeks’ time no one will remember the game, just the three points which have put us back up to third in the league. And I think there are going to be quite a few games like that here where we are going to have to be patient.

  “The crowd are going to have to be patient as well. We are not always going to be having 25 shots, as much as we’d like to.”

  Barrow had the edge in the first half and Emile Acquah missed the target with their two best chances.

  Rory Feely also sent a free header over from a 58th-minute corner.

  But Mansfield took control and Will Swan saw his shot deflect over, skimming the top of the crossbar on the hour.

  Calum Macdonald escaped with a yellow card for his challenge on 70 minutes before Clarke broke through with a low finish from 20 yards from Swan’s pull-back from the left.

  Tiensia then saw red on 83 minutes for diving in on Aaron Lewis.

  Barrow boss Pete Wild felt the game proved his side can live with the best and he felt Stags had the rub of the green on the red cards.

  “I thought first half we played really well and it was a classic away-from-home performance,” he said.

  “Second half as the home team they pinned us in and I didn’t think we got out enough and got on the front foot.

  “It is fine margins and it didn’t go our way. But there were mitigating circumstances and I feel hard done by.

  “The turning point for me was they should have had a red card before ours. He dived in and left the floor. Our lad’s was a red though, which didn’t help us.

  “They won it with the one shot we haven’t blocked in the whole game.

  “There was nothing between the two teams which shows we can live with the top teams at this level. But they have just edged it today.”