Eaves reacts to opening goal account in agonising Donny defeat
By Matt Johnson
Loanee Tom Eaves offered a dejected reflection after his own late strike was trumped by an effort deep into injury time to hand Doncaster a 2-1 victory at the Greenhous Meadow.
Town were forced to play for almost an hour with ten men after Dave McAllister’s controversial red card and Eaves praised the levels of effort and commitment of his team mates that so nearly earned a valuable point.
“It’s really disappointing to be honest,” said Eaves. “Even when it was 1-1 I thought we should have got more out of the game.
“Going down to ten men killed us a bit, but you can’t fault the work rate from the lads, it was phenomenal. We worked for every second of the whole 94 minutes, we just gave it everything we had and it’s just really disappointing that they got the last minute winner.”
Standing at 6ft5, Eaves has been a constant thorn in the side of opposition defences since joining on loan from Bolton and the 21-year-old revealed how he went from delight to despair after netting what he thought was a point winning goal.
“I was ecstatic to get my first goal. It’s always nice to get a goal, but it’s been masked by the loss. We can’t dwell on it though, we’ve got to stay positive for Saturday and get ourselves ready and prepare right.
“I think we felt really precious about the equaliser and that we didn’t want to lose it after putting so much effort into the game. Maybe a few of us wanted to sit off and hold it for the draw, but the final result doesn’t justify the performance.”
Eaves admitted to not having a clear view of the challenge that led to McAllister’s straight red, but the forward hopes that the card is rescinded in time for the weekend’s vital clash against neighbours Walsall.
“There were a few players in the way so I couldn’t see but I just saw the ref blowing and show the red. There’s nothing you can do really and the ref can’t go back on his decision, so you’ve just got to get together as a team and stick it out.
“Dave is a credit to the team and it’ll be a loss if he can’t play next weekend, so I’m happy that the gaffer is appealing it. I think if we can just take that work ethic into the Walsall game then I think we will be fine.”
Town’s next home meeting is with Leyton Orient on Sat 9 Mar. Snap up your tickets online.