Grant McCann has felt 'excitement' since Doncaster Rovers return - but players cannot get swept up in it

The Eco-Power Stadium has sold out for the League Two play-off semi-final second leg at home to Crewe Alexandra, which Rovers take a 2-0 lead into.

Victory at Gresty Road continued the remarkable snowball effect since February, when Rovers have lost just once in 19 games to go from 22nd in the table to fifth when the regular season finished. It has gone up another notch in the last 13, winning 11 and drawing the other two.

There have been some dark times since Darren Moore left for Sheffield Wednesday in March 2021 with them challenging for automatic promotion to the Championship. McCann is the fifth manager since.

From September to late January all but two home gates (Grimsby Town and Bradford City) were between 5,400 and 6,475, but the last six have all been bigger, with over 10,000 at the matches against Wrexham and Barrow.

Irrespective of the numbers, the support for McCann – who took Rovers to the League One play-offs in his previous spell as manager in 2018-19 – has been constant and potentially decisive with many a manager sacked for worse results than he squeezed out of an injury-hit squad before February's upturn.

"I've felt an excitement since I came back to the club," said McCann. "I felt a real buy-in from the fans and there's been games where there's been five or 6,000 at home compared to Friday night there'll be 13,000 or so. But regardless of that, we've all felt as players and staff a real connection to the fanbase.

"It's so important at any football club to have that.

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"You need everyone pulling in the same direction. It's what we like to create because it creates a really strong mentality and a strong group and it takes a lot to get in the way of that."

A style of football which has brought 93 goals in all competitions this season has perhaps helped too.

"I like to attack the game and get after the opposition, I like to try and create as many opportunities as I can and be on the front foot and positive in every action so hopefully that's helped us," said McCann.

"Hopefully the fans are buying into that. I think they are, and they can see it’s not about sitting back and worrying.

"We know what we have. Yes, we're respectful of the opposition but ultimately it's what we do."

McCann, who won play-off finals with three different clubs at three different grounds as a player, has been at pains to ensure his squad do not get over-excited.

"As a player we always treated it as a one-off game – can we win this game? I think that's the most important way to go about it. People can get wrapped up in terms of what it is but for us it's just the next game.

"Of course we know the importance of it but we don't want to shout it from the rooftops, we want people to stay calm and focused and hopefully play our football.

“We've got a group of players who are very level and are just focused on performing."

Harrison Biggins is an injury doubt for a tie decided on the night without the away goals rule, but extra-time and penalties if needed.