Terry McPhillips admits leaving out Joe Dodoo at Doncaster was big mistake

Dodoo was dropped to the bench despite a goal and an assist in that 3-0 win, taking the striker to four goals in four games..

But McPhillips decided to rest Dodoo ahead of Friday’s FA Cup second-round clash at Solihull Moors.

The manager said: “We made some changes. We’ve got three games in seven days and we knew this was going to be tough.

“Were they the correct changes? Maybe not. They’re great when it works out but it probably hasn’t for us here. But we’ll have to put it to bed and concentrate on Friday. You look at the shifts Joe has put in but with hindsight maybe he should have started.

“He was fit. We were just looking after him with all the games but obviously that never paid off for us.”

First-choice full-backs Marc Bola and Ollie Turton were also left out, although McPhillips revealed they are nursing light injuries.

“Just knocks, we’re getting a few. They’re not serious” he added.

“We just have to look after them a little bit. It gives a chance to one or two of the others to showcase themselves.”

Pool were the better side in the first half but squandered three clear-cut chances. They were made to pay by Herbie Kane, who scored in first-half stoppage time, before John Marquis added a second 12 minutes from the end.

McPhillips admitted: “We weren’t at our best and we got beaten by the better team. They’re a good team, with good players. They play a good system.

“I thought we had the better chances before they scored. I thought Nathan (Delfouneso) and Joe (Bunney) had good chances.

“I thought it was working first half in terms of the way we set up. We were stopping them threatening our goal.

“But we didn’t do as well as we have been doing. We’ve got to dust ourselves down and go again Friday.”