Grant McCann's Easter message to Doncaster Rovers forwards plus triple injury update ahead of League 2 trip to Tranmere Rovers

Rovers, who visit Tranmere Rovers on Good Friday, spurned the chance of moving into second spot after drawing 1-1 at Salford City on Tuesday night, when his side failed to convert from several promising situations in the second period.

McCann’s side are unbeaten in seven matches, but have only won two of them, drawing five.

McCann, without the suspended Billy Sharp at Prenton Park, said: "I had a good chat yesterday with the forwards – just showing them some moments in the last two games where it was ‘can we pick a better option when we are at the top end of the pitch’. It was also reminding the group and squad of where we are and where we sit at this stage of the season.

"We’ve had the most shots in the league, most final third entries. People don’t believe in expected goals, but we are the best in the division. We are creating chances.

"I have just said to the lads: ‘keep doing that, but just be mindful when we get in those areas, can we guarantee the goal more?’

“The boys know and didn’t need me to tell. We just need to brush up on it.”

Veteran defender Richard Wood (ankle) will miss out on the Wirral again, while fellow defender Jay McGrath and forward Joe Ironside (groin) are continuing to be assessed.

McCann added:"Richard won’t make the game. He’s still sore. We will Jay and Joe as much time as they need, really. We will see where they are today, they didn’t train yesterday. We will see if we can get them on the pitches at some point today and make a call on it.

"They are better from the injections. It’s just a matter of time of letting the injections do their work and try and build them up.

"We will see. It’s touch and go really and we will give them as much time as possible.

"Joe had a double-hernia operation and came back within five or six days. But there’s been a little bit of a flare-up on that. Dave (Rennie) got Joe back pretty quickly and Joe came on in the Cheltenham game. It’s just managing the ‘nervy’ pain he is getting and trying to get to the bottom of that and hopefully this injection has helped that.

"Jay is similar. He is just getting a little bit of pain around that abductor and it’s just giving him as much time as possible.

“At this stage of the season, you can sort of ‘patch’ people up, but we don’t want any long-term issues. It’s a bit of a catch-22 situation.”