Doncaster boss Schofield seeks improvement against 'well-coached' Cobblers

Doncaster Rovers manager Danny Schofield accepts his side need to up their game against Northampton this weekend, especially from an attacking perspective.

Donny are 12th in the League Two table and their dwindling play-off aspirations were dented further when pegged back to a 1-1 draw by lowly Crawley in midweek.

With Cobblers the visitors to the Keepmoat this weekend, Schofield said: “They’re in a really good vein of form, they’ve had a really good season so far and they’re fighting for that automatic spot so we know it’s going to be a tough challenge.

“They’re a very well-coached team and very well-organised – you can see that. They’re a difficult nut to crack but we’ll be focusing on what we can do in order to do that.

"We’ll prepare as intensely as always and try to be as thorough as possible to know the opponent and then have our game plan and our way of doing things come Saturday. We’ll embrace the challenge and hopefully have a positive performance and a positive result.”

Doncaster, without injured top scorer George Miller, managed just two shots in the whole game against Crawley but Caolan Lavery’s goal put them on course for all three points until Rafiq Khaleel’s late equaliser.

Schofield, who replaced Gary McSheffrey as Rovers manager in October after being sacked by Huddersfield a month earlier, added: “It was probably the lowest chances created on Tuesday night. We were missing creative and attacking players. We know how defensively structured and solid we need to be first and foremost to be competitive, with whatever players we put on the pitch.

“We know we’re missing some players but we need to focus on all areas of the game and produce more attacking moments to create the opportunities.

“Basics are always the basis of everything. The fundamentals that I speak about quite a lot both in and out of possession are a real focus for us. When we win the ball back, what do we do with it because we don’t want lots of turnovers and want to be creating chances from a possession base. It’s something we need to improve for the next nine games. “