Walsall goalkeeper Carl Rushworth said he relished the penalty shootout on Tuesday and hoped he could be the hero for the team on the night.
The 20-year-old pulled off two fantastic saves in the shootout but it wasn’t enough as the Saddlers fell to a 4-3 defeat on spot kicks.
Despite the cup exit, Rushworth feels there are a lot of positives to take from the game and while he was frustrated not to get the victory, he enjoyed the penalty shootout.
“All goalkeepers, we love penalty shootouts and we love to be the hero,” Rushworth said.
“It’s unfortunate that I couldn’t be it on Tuesday but it is what it is. Fair play to Doncaster but we’ve just got to take the positives now.
“I thought we were class for the full 90 minutes. We had spells, we should have scored, should have got more in normal time and we were unfortunate for it to go to penalties.
“It just wasn’t our day. We’ve just got to take the positives and take it into Saturday.
“We’re building each week. From last Saturday until now, we’re building and we’re going to keep going in that same direction so I’m looking forward to Saturday and getting points on the board as well.”
Rushworth has loved his first foray into senior professional football, particularly with fans back in the stadium.
Big crowds are a new experience for Rushworth and it’s one that has given him a huge boost.
“It’s class,” he commented.
“On Saturday (at Tranmere) it was the most I’ve ever played in front of and on Tuesday in front of all the home fans was class, especially at the end.
“Little stuff like that is massive for the players who gain confidence from that and then we’ll show it when we play.”
“Whenever the crowd go through the roof, it gets shown onto the pitch. Everybody gets confidence, everyone wants to get on the ball and then we get chances after it.”
Attention now turns to Saturday’s Sky Bet League Two fixture against Forest Green Rovers.
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