Doncaster Rovers manager Gary McSheffrey impressed by Reo Griffiths’s early displays

While Doncaster Rovers manager Gary McSheffrey has seen some moments of explosiveness and brilliance, as he puts it, in Griffiths’s short spell already, he is also looking at the bigger picture. The fact that Griffiths has been brought in on a two-and-a-half year deal carries plenty of significance.

On Griffiths, who netted in the win at Sunderland last weekend, McSheffrey said: “He is raw at the minute because he is going to be playing on adrenalin and not match fitness at the minute.

“There’ll be a period where he goes off the boil a little bit. That’s where we must make sure we manage him properly and don’t chuck too much at him too soon.

“But if he performs like he did at Sunderland, for example, you cannot think about resting him. You just let the shackles off and let him go and play.

“The other night, he was feeding off scraps in a different game, but he’s shown signs of brilliance where he can get himself in good positons and work defenders and I am looking forward to working with him.”

Rovers are assessing captain Tommy Rowe ahead of the long League One trip to Portsmouth -–but fellow midfielder Ethan Galbraith is definitely ruled out.

Rowe (ankle) came off at the interval in Tuesday’s 1-0 home reverse to Ipswich and is a doubt.

Loanee Galbraith has missed Rovers’ last two games with a calf issue and is back at parent club Manchester United receiving treatment.

John Bostock, sidelined since late November after damaging ankle ligaments, could return to training in a couple of weeks, while Tom Anderson (foot) is also potentially a few weeks away from joining the group.