Ipswich boss Paul Hurst admits Rovers were deserved promotion winners from League One last season after beating his former club Shrewsbury to second spot.

Hurst moved to Portman Road after the Shrews’ play-off final defeat and will take charge of his first competitive game against Rovers tomorrow afternoon.

It will be a similar Rovers side that Hurst came up against during his Shrewsbury tenure, but he believes Mowbray’s group are deserving of the chance of stepping up in level.

He said: “They did very well to win promotion and became very strong in the league after a relatively mixed start, I think Tony would have said.

“They deservedly went up - my old club couldn’t quite catch them.

“A lot of their squad is quite similar, they’ve added a couple of new players to it, but in general he’s stuck with what served him well last year.

“I’m sure they will be desperate to have a crack, many of them back in the Championship.”

On his side’s preparations, and ahead of his first competitive match in charge, Hurst added: "In terms of the group we're working with yes, we've had a good week.

"Now everyone is starting to understand and realise the big kick-off is nearly upon us.

"I want a group of players who I feel can represent what I want us to be and represent the football club well, bring the fans back and get people talking about us.

"I want to create an identity, that's really important, and along the way we understand we have to get results.

"I want to finish as high up the table as possible and genuinely I don't know where that can be.

"That's not a bad thing, let's not put a limit on what we can achieve as long as we're realistic along the way.”