Mixed feelings for Richie Wellens as Doncaster end losing run on the road

Richie Wellens was glad to see Doncaster end their dismal away record but frustrated they could not turn a strong second-half showing at fellow strugglers Crewe into a win.

After a run of eight defeats on the road, Rovers secured their first away point of the season with a 1-1 draw at Gresty Road as Joseph Olowu cancelled out Chris Porter’s opener.

After the break Ethan Galbraith was thwarted by keeper Dave Richards and Tiago Cukur wasted a chance to bag a much-needed win for the visitors when he fired wide late on.

Rovers boss Wellens said: “We should have won the game and we wanted to get that goal, but it’s a fine line.

“We were time-wasting at the end and we didn’t want to time-waste, we wanted to win the game. But when you’ve had more or less all the ball and the chances in the second half there’s always that risk you run.

“I thought it was a good energetic away performance. Their keeper has pulled off an unbelievable save from Ethan. When you perform like that and you put all the hard work in, our luck will turn.

“Crewe were there to be had in the last 20 minutes. The three lads up front gave everything and we kept the ball up the pitch and it was just disappointing that Tiago didn’t score.”

“In the second half we played the majority of the game in their half and had a lot of opportunities.”

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Porter handed Crewe a 33rd-minute lead after some determined work by Billy Sass-Davies, who retrieved a Tommy Lowery cross which looked to be heading out for the veteran striker to head his 50th goal for Crewe.

But in first-half stoppage time Olowu helped on Ro-Shaun Williams’ cross into the far corner past a helpless Richards for the equaliser.

After the break Porter forced a good save out of Pontus Dahlberg with a fierce drive.

But it was Donny who looked the more dangerous in the final half an hour, making the most of Crewe’s sloppy play to counter-attack dangerously.

A badly-executed free-kick by Scott Robertson almost proved costly, with Cukur setting up Galbraith who forced Richards into an important save.

The draw did neither club any favours, leaving Crewe bottom of the table and without a victory in nine league games.

Alex boss Dave Artell said: “We were the better team in the first half and we played some good stuff. But the second was a bit of a non-event with two teams who were making sure they didn’t lose the game.

“It was two teams whose performance was reflective of where they are in the league. We were whacking the ball at the end and if we’d lost playing like that I’d be mightily annoyed.

“Billy Sass-Davies was probably our best player. It was a terrific assist for the goal and we certainly valued his contribution tonight. He’s a young player finding his feet and it was a really mature performance.”

On Porter’s landmark goal in his 400th league game, Artell added: “He’s scored some goals for us and he’ll score some more. He’s a goalscorer.”

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