Doncaster boss Darren Moore praised his side for a “professional performance” after they saw off basement boys Burton 3-1.

Rovers racked up a fourth straight victory to move to within two points of the League One summit.

Fejiri Okenabirhie finished a swift counter-attack to open the scoring after eight minutes before Lucas Akins levelled from the spot in the 44th minute.

But a Ben Whiteman penalty deep into first-half stoppage time ensured Rovers hit straight back before Brighton loanee Taylor Richards scored a superb third to seal victory.

“It was a professional performance,” said Moore. “We wanted to come here and continue the recent form that we have been showing and I thought the players went out and displayed that.

“We went 1-0 up and then when we went back to 1-1 I thought we responded really well and got that second goal just before half-time, because we knew that it would be a more open game in the second half, which it proved to be and then we were able to go on and get the third goal.

“We scored (our first goal) relatively quickly. I was really pleased because it was a really good team move and a great goal from Fey and it capped off a really good move from the team.

“It set the tone for the game in terms of the sort of performance that we wanted. We got pegged back with the penalty, but the response was really good to go in at half-time with our noses in front.”

Moore had no complaints about the penalty conceded by Richards for bringing down Joe Powell, but admitted he preferred seeing his loanee further up the pitch.

“The nearest to the opposition goal that we can get Taylor Richards the more effective he is.” Moore said, “We saw parts of that today, but what we are trying to do with him is get that out of him on a more consistent basis and for longer duration of games really. But all of that will come as he plays more games and gets more minutes on the pitch, which will give him that level of fitness to add to that wonderful talent that he has.”

Burton boss Jake Buxton was left to contemplate another defeat that leaves his side five points adrift of safety going into the Christmas schedule.

“There wasn’t a great deal in it in the first half,” he said. “We started the game quite brightly. We told the players about Doncaster being a threat on the counter and we saw that if we do go at them and press that they would pick us off.

“They scored a good goal to start with, but we controlled the game in terms of play and then we get ourselves back level after good play between Charles Vernam and Joe Powell and a good penalty from Lucas Akins and then we kick ourselves with an individual mistake again.

“After the four good performances we had where we picked up points, but perhaps not the maximum points in some games that we should have done, they knew today that we needed a result and three points. While we started the game really positively, there are bits of us that are fragile because of the position that we are in and when we concede goals.”