'Frustrated' Doncaster Rovers boss refuses to put all blame on referee for defeat to Chesterfield

Chey Dunkley headed the Spireites in front before the hosts had Luke Molyneux sent off. Paddy Madden extended the lead from the penalty spot and then Tom Anderson was given his marching orders late on as nine-man Rovers conceded a third to James Berry in injury-time.

There was a lot of frustration towards referee James Bell from the Doncaster dugout and stands but McCann didn’t put the result all down to Bell’s decision-making.

He told BBC Radio Sheffield: “It was just a crazy day. I'm not saying it was the referee that cost us that game – it was us. We didn’t perform the way we could do in that first-half ultimately.”

However, he disagreed with the decision to award Chesterfield a free-kick which led to Dunkley heading in from Liam Mandeville’s delivery.

He said: “(Tom) Naylor was already on the floor and the referee has blown his whistle – it is a crazy decision really – but we should still defend the cross, it is poor from us. We just let (Chey) Dunkley move us out of the way and it is a free header into the net.”

Molyneux was booked following the half-time whistle after he approached the referee and then he received a second yellow for kicking the ball away early in the second-half.

McCann had no complaints with that decision, saying: "I can’t really support him (Molyneux) on that – it is him that has done that. All the planning at half-time went out of the window within five minutes of the second-half.”

Chesterfield were awarded a penalty for handball against Ephraim Yeboah which Madden tucked away on the hour-mark to double their lead.

McCann said: "I thought the penalty was soft. We were told in the briefing in the summer that if the hands are by the side then it is ‘play on.’ I don’t think Ephraim has moved his arms too much.”

And the day went from bad to worse when Anderson was shown a red card on 85 minutes for an off-the-ball incident.

“It was just a coming together,” McCann explained. “I can’t even see what has happened on the video so I don’t know how the linesman has seen it 30-40 yards away on the far side of the pitch and that just compounds the day we’ve had.”

The defeat brings an end to Doncaster’s 11-match home winning run in the league.

On the performance, McCann was ‘frustrated’ and ‘disappointed’ and said he should have gone with a different approach.

He admitted: "I actually thought about changing it going into the game and I wish I had now. I knew how Chesterfield play and I think we could have hurt them in a different way but after having chats with my staff we decided to stay how we were. I am kicking myself for not being a bit more aggressive on it.”