ROVERS will be without left-back Derrick Williams for up to six weeks after the club confirmed he damaged his hamstring at Bristol City last weekend.

The 23-year-old limped off after 55 minutes at Ashton Gate, and was replaced by Charlie Mulgrew.

But while Owen Coyle says he didn’t bring the former Celtic man to Ewood Park to play left-back, he may be forced to play him there while Williams recovers.

The Rovers manager said: “Derrick will be out for four to six weeks. We’ve not been blessed in that department in terms of injuries. It’s disappointing because he’s done very well for us since coming in and unfortunately we’ll miss him for a period of time now.

“We’ll just to adjust with the players we do have.”

Mulgrew is on his way back from injury and played most of the second half at Bristol, as well as 20 minutes against Nottingham Forest.

Coyle added: “The important thing is that when Charlie starts the games he’s ready to play every game.

“We probably asked too much of him last week, he played nearly 50 minutes. That’s one we have to look at. We need to make sure there’s a seamless transition into starting games so he continues to starting them. Left-back wasn’t the position I brought Charlie in to play for this club.”

Anthony Stokes returns to the squad for tomorrow’s clash after recovering from food poisoning. Gordon Greer also has a chance, but Danny Graham is unlikely to feature this week.

Coyle said; “Gordon has a decent chance of being involved and Stokes should be fine, but Danny Graham is the biggest concern.”