Richard Wood on why Doncaster Rovers missing club record could be blessing in disguise

Rovers had won 10 League Two matches on the trot before going to Gillingham on Saturday. They missed out on an 11th but not the play-offs, and that is all that matters to Wood.

Instead, the 38-year-old former Sheffield Wednesday and Rotherham United centre-back saw his team come through a big test of character, seeing a 2-0 lead disappear within five minutes of goalkeeper Thimothee Lo-Tutala's red card, but claim a draw.

It followed victories over Barrow and Colchester United where the opposition went in front – something which had not happened in the previous eight games.

"It didn't really happen until late in our run but when it did I'm glad it happened,” admitted Wood, set to lead the team in Monday's semi-final first leg at Crewe Alexandra.

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“I didn't really want us to always be in front so it was nice then to go behind and know we've got the character and the people in the dressing room to sort it out.

"It means we've had a bit of everything now.

"It's been a good run but the main target is promotion and it's irrelevant how we get there – how many performances, how many wins we have as long as we get it."

The 12-match unbeaten sequence has coincided with Wood's return to the league XI. A player often told in his later years at Rotherham he could not play three times a week has been off field for only about 45 minutes in total.

"When I came into the team I just wanted to win games and get some momentum," he said. "But once you start going on a run there's always murmurings of it (the play-offs) from fans or players.

"The gaffer's done a great job of ignoring it and creating his own 18-game table, which has been a very good way of doing it.

"But I've been around football that long to know weird things happen and this is one of them.

"Some people will have enjoyed having no game this week for the chance to reset, focus and for the gaffer to get points across but I much prefer just to get on with it.

"But it's definitely better to be involved in the play-offs than not so how long we've got to wait for it doesn't matter."

And only playing one league game from September to February means no end-of-season feel to Wood right now.

"I don't know about having anything extra in my legs, I wouldn't go that far, but it didn't feel like my last league of the season last week,” he says. “Not to me and probably to quite a few lads in the team because we've spent the majority of the season out of the team through injury.

"It didn't feel like the long slog of a season. I felt fine at the end of it and the play-offs just prolongs the season a bit more, which is what I want.

"I don't need the summer, really, although when you ask me after the play-offs I'll probably say I'm ready for my holiday but I want the season to carry on now."

The second leg is on Friday and the final on May 19 at Wembley.