Video: Injured Luke McCullough set to make Doncaster Rovers return before end of season

The Northern Ireland international has been sidelined since suffering ligament damage to his knee in a pre-summer friendly at York last summer, but Ferguson is hopeful he will be in the reckoning ahead of May.

Ferguson, speaking ahead of Tuesday night’s trip to Cambridge United, where the League Two leaders are seeking their first win in six matches, said: “McCullough is way ahead of schedule and with the way he’s going, I would expect him to be fit before the end of the season.

“You have to be careful. But Luke is fit and his body fat is very good and he has trained very hard. It can be so hard mentally with a long injury like that.

“He has gone about it the right way and is running very, very well and joining in now in the warm-ups.”

Ferguson reports new fresh injury problems from the weekend, with Joe Wright (knee ligaments) out for another two to three weeks, while Liam Mandeville is likely to be another week away from being back in the fray.

Keeper Marko Marosi is also progressing well in his rehabilitation from an ankle ligament injury, the Rovers chief confirmed.