OWEN Coyle felt Ben Marshall’s move to Wolves ‘went on longer than it should have’ as the 25-year-old ended a month long transfer saga by moving to Molineux half an hour before Tuesday’s 11pm transfer deadline.

Marshall had made it clear he wanted to leave the club, having turned down the offer of a new contract, and had been made unavailable for selection by Coyle.

But despite a month of talks between the clubs, the deal wasn’t concluded until late on deadline day.

Rovers are waiting on a work permit decision over a prospective loan move for Celtic defender Efe Ambrose, and secured a return to East Lancashire for Marvin Emnes on loan from Swansea as well as brining in Sheffield Wednesday attacker Lucas Joao until the end of the season.

Coyle had targeted further deals in January, including a move for RC Lens defender Abdoul Ba.

When asked about Rovers' transfer dealings, the Rovers boss said: “At the end of the day, I targeted the players, and then it’s up to the powers that be to try and secure those deals.

“They weren’t for one reason or another, and the people involved will let you know why that was.

“From the outset I targeted players that I thought would help us, and there we go.

“The Ben Marshall one went on longer than it should have.

“He wanted the move, but as it was it went up to the deadline.

“Efe Ambrose was a late one, and we awaits news on that.”

Rovers tried to force through a deal for 28-year-old Ambrose minutes before the deadline, but despite having filed the necessary paperwork in time, are still awaiting a decision of whether the move will be sanctioned.

Coyle believes a decision could take ‘a number of days’, with Ambrose having watched on from the stands in Wednesday’s defeat to Leeds United.

He would become Rovers' only defensive addition of the window should the club get the deal over the line, and Coyle added: “We had a conversation with Celtic and we were led to believe from them that everything should be ok.

“Going from one governing body, the SFA, to the FA, there’s different criteria for work permits in different countries.

“We await that news, we’ve presented our case, and we will get a definitive answer in the coming days.”

The arrival of Joao and return of Emnes leaves Rovers with five strikers in their squad, adding depth to an area of the pitch in which Rovers have fared well so far this season.

Danny Graham and Sam Gallagher have scored 21 goals between them while Anthony Stokes remains in the first team picture despite deadline day interest from Scottish Championship side Hibs and the 28-year-old being handed a two-year suspended jail sentence for attacking an Elvis impersonator in Ireland.

“At any football club you need goalscorers," Coyle said of the balance of his squad.

“Marvin returned, we had Sam and Danny and obviously Stokesy who had the ongoing thing in Ireland.

“To get Marvin back and bring in Lucas Joao, we obviously now have some good strikers which every club should have.

“You can never have enough goalscorers at your football club.

“If we get the Efe Ambrose one sorted then that would give us another option defensively and Tommie Hoban coming back.

“I certainly targeted players that I felt could improve us as a squad and that’s what we’ve got.”