Port Vale v Doncaster Rovers: Jay McGrath on the part Everton and Richard Wood have played in his footballing education

There is a place up for grabs with captain Richard Wood ruled out for two months with a broken ankle.

Joe Olowu got the first chance at home to Morecambe last week, partnering Tom Anderson as Rovers kept their first League Two clean sheet of 2024-25.

Olowu followed it up with a decent performance against Everton in Tuesday's 3-0 League Cup defeat. His partner on the day, McGrath, was arguably better still and will be hoping to make his impact in the league sooner rather than later this season having so far only played in the cup.

"I thought they were good first half and large periods of the second half against Beto and (Iliman) Ndiaye," reflected manager Grant McCann, whose side are at Port Vale in a 12.30pm kick-off on Saturday. "They did well, won their headers and battled with them.

"Jay's just a young boy who hasn't played many minutes of senior football and Joe was good, he used his pace to cover and won a lot of headers."

The experience should do 21-year-old McGrath, signed from St Patrick's Athletic in January, a lot of good.

"I've not played much so to get back in, get some blocks in early, make some tackles and keep the ball moving is good,” he said. “It helps you settle back down and get back into the flow of things.

"All focus is on the league now and cutting out bad performances but if we can play like that against League Two opposition and cut out giving away half-chances, we'll give it a good go."

And he revealed how 39-year-old Wood has helped him.

"It's just about every day doing the best I can," said McGrath. "We've got a lot of good centre-halves so I've just got to keep training and keep going.

"When he (Wood) has played all the games he has, he knows what to do and what not to do.

"He'll give you little tips on when to go, when not to go so it's amazing – especially for a young player like me.

"Having Ando and Woody who've played loads of games between them and even Joe who's been at the club a long time, I'm always learning and looking to learn new things.

"The gaffer and Cliff (Byrne, McCann's assistant) are brilliant, doing little extras with me."

Tom Nixon is expected to shake off the ankle injury picked up on Tuesday, and Brandon Fleming and Harry Clifton should be back after rests. Tuesday's Football League Trophy game at home to Huddersfield Town has been earmarked for midfielder Ben Close's return from injury.