Doncaster manager Sean O'Driscoll adopted Brian Clough-style man-management skills after seeing his side pipped for the second automatic promotion place in League One on the final day.

Rovers crashed 2-1 at lowly Cheltenham in the last match of the regular season when a win would have guaranteed them a place in the Championship behind Swansea.

Nearest rivals Nottingham Forest held their nerve to beat Yeovil and condemn Doncaster to a play-off semi-final with Southend, whom they face on Friday night in the first leg at Roots Hall.

And in a bid to lift his crestfallen players O'Driscoll employed a tactic Clough himself would have been proud of.

He said: "I've just said to the players whatever you need to do to get rid of your disappointment; have a drink, kick the cat, whatever you need to do, just get it out of your system because we're back to work and we've got, hopefully, three massive games to come.

"We've had an opportunity and not taken it. Now we have another opportunity for promotion."

Doncaster received no complaints from the RSPCA this week, while no players returned with sore heads and former Bournemouth manager O'Driscoll refuses to accept his side, flattened by events at Whaddon Road, will not recover in time.

He said: "In football, as a player or as a manager, you deal with disappointment a lot more than you deal with success.

"Unless you are the top four in the Premier League that is - nobody gets that much success that often.

"We've put last week to bed - that was last week.

"It's been a good week in training, the weather has been good and the lads have seemed to enjoy themselves.

"We've got another opportunity now and not a lot of teams get the chance of having another opportunity."

Rovers could be boosted by the return of long-term injury victims Mark Wilson (groin), Adam Lockwood (foot) and Steve Roberts (knee), while midfielder Paul Green is expected to shake off an ankle injury.

Southend go into the game boosted by the fact boss Steve Tilson will be back in the dugout after completing a two-game touchline ban.

Tilson also has a virtually fully-fit squad at his disposal and believes the stage is set for an enthralling encounter.

When the sides met at Roots Hall back in September, a Leon Clarke penalty gave United a thrilling 3-2 win, while Rovers ran out 3-1 victors in the return fixture in December.

"Ideally everyone would rather be at home in the second leg, but we need to put in a good performance," said Tilson.

"They are a good footballing side and lively up front, so it will be a very good test.

"There are four good sides in the play-offs. There isn't much between all four and in the end you need a good performance and a bit of luck to get there.

"It all comes down to putting together a couple of good performances and getting into the final."

Striker Lee Barnard - who has scored nine goals in 16 appearances for the club since joining from Tottenham - is available after making a full recovery from a slight calf strain while young winger Damian Scannell has returned to training following an infection in his groin.

Tilson remains without long-term injury absentees Che Wilson (Achilles), Lewis Hunt (hernia) and Richie Foran (knee).