Mowbray praise for Rovers

Middlesbrough manager Tony Mowbray was not surprised with relegated Doncaster's plucky performance in Tuesday's goalless draw at the Riverside.

Dean Saunders' outfit were finally consigned to npower League One following a 4-3 home defeat to Portsmouth on Saturday, and their fearless approach might well have seen them snatch victory on Teesside. Play-off chasing Boro were strong favourites going into the Championship clash, but Mowbray never expected the game to be easy, saying: "Given that they've conceded 77 goals this year? No, they're professional footballers playing for pride. "Their team is hugely changed, when you look at the team that I saw play a few weeks ago, there's now no players that had been brought in for 'the experiment'. "They had a largely British-based side of players that worked extremely hard for each other and Doncaster have a reputation of being a good passing team. "You can see they have some tidy players. They play OK but ultimately their season has been disappointing."