ROVERS boss Owen Coyle described Tuesday night’s friendly at Rochdale as a ‘great workout’ after seeing five of his outfield players complete 90 minutes.

The temperature was still pushing 30C when Coyle’s men took to the pitch at Spotland for their fourth pre-season friendly this summer.

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And despite seeing Danny Graham’s 11th-minute goal levelled by a stunning second-half free-kick by former Ramsbottom United winger Donal McDermott, the manager was satisfied with the test his players got against Keith Hill’s men.

Coyle - who was missing Grant Hanley (knee), Craig Conway (thigh) and Ben Marshall (illness), as well as Euro 2016 duo Shane Duffy and Corry Evans - said: “It was terrific and that was important (some players getting 90 minutes).

“I think you’ve seen that at the end, there was a little bit of fatigue.

“Obviously we weren’t blessed by a few players missing through a little bit of injury and illness, so that meant there was an onus on a lot of the boys that played to get that 90 minutes.

“We had a game today for the young ones against York as well but, all in all, a wonderful exercise.

“I asked them before the game, ‘Make sure you get the fitness from it’.

“It’s took a what I would suggest is a contender for goal of the season to be our first goal conceded of the pre-season and we had some wonderful chances to get goals.

“But I thought it was a great exercise. I thought it was a good Rochdale team, a team that just missed the play-offs last year and passed and moved the ball well.

“For us it was a great working exercise, so delighted for the players that took part and hopefully moving into Saturday we’ll have one or two coming back.

“Shane Duffy, Corry Evans - we’ll look to see if they play some part in that. Ben Marshall, Craig Conway should both be fit as well, and that gives us a few other options.

“So all in all, a great, wonderful experience, working hard. I thought that it was played in a good manner, it was played at a good tempo.

“There was one or two tasty challenges, but I thought it was a great workout.”