Cardiff boss Brian Barry-Murphy singled out Cian Ashford for special praise after his side beat Doncaster 4-3 thanks to a last-gasp goal at Cardiff City Stadium.
The Wales Under-21s winger scored a goal in the first half and made the run that paved the way for the winner from Joel Bagan right at the death – his first goal for three years.
After taking the lead through skipper Owen Bailey, Doncaster twice came from behind to level against the League One leaders, but were then undone by Bagan’s late strike.
“Cian has really stepped up and I thought he carried us at times today when we were in need of real quality and when the game wasn’t perfect. He was the one who had real quality, so I’m very pleased with him,” said Barry-Murphy.
“Our intention was to play a lot better and have more control in the game, but it didn’t work out that way. The most pleasing thing is that we found a way to win and created enough chances to do that.
“I’m very pleased for the players and the supporters that we managed to win through. It just gives you such an opportunity to improve the team, and it’s clearly evident to us how much room for improvement we have – that’s probably the most exciting thing.
“I think if I speak too much about what we perceive as failings in the game, it would discredit Doncaster. They are so dangerous in the way that they play.
“We knew that beforehand, but our performance numbers just weren’t at the level that we would want. There are a whole lot of reasons for that, and the most important thing is that we found a way to win, and we did.”
With only one win now in the last 14 league games it was another cruel blow for Doncaster, although their manager Grant McCann was rightly proud of his side’s effort.
“Nobody wants to concede in the 98th minute of a game. We did more than enough to come away with at least a point and I felt we created the better chances in the game and we should have scored more than three goals,” said McCann.
“But I still gave my players huge credit in the changing room. It’s difficult to stand there and be really negative or reactionary to that performance. I’ll need to have a good look back at it.
“The league is still young with 26 games to go. I don’t take much notice of form at this point. I was pleased with how my players went about the game and with their performance.
“We could have come here and sat behind the ball and frustrated them, but we went toe to toe with a team that has a budget that is six times higher than ours. For large spells I thought we were the better team.
“We didn’t come here to bow down to Cardiff – we came here to be brave, to attack them and to play them at their own game.
“When that last-minute goal went in it was a killer blow, and I don’t know where the referee got an extra minute and a half from on top of the seven.”
