Jack Rodwell still has ‘a little bit more to do’ to be considered for first team action in the Championship, according to Tony Mowbray.

Rodwell made his Rovers debut with a 60 minute outing in the 3-2 defeat at Bournemouth.

It was a first competitive appearance in more than a year for the 27-year-old who joined as a free agent last month.

Rodwell had played 90 minutes for the Under-23s against Arsenal the previous week, and although considered to mainly be a central defensive option by Mowbray, it was in midfield where he played against the Cherries.

Charlie Mulgrew is expected to return from a calf problem to take the place of the suspended Derrick Williams against Nottingham Forest on Saturday, with Mowbray revealing Rodwell wouldn’t be in contention for a league debut should the Scot not make it.

“I think there is a little bit more to do,” Mowbray said of the former England international.

“The intensity of a first team game is something he has to acclimatise to.

“How you get that if you’re not playing first team games is the conundrum for us.

“I would expect him to pick up the training side of things and he has to show over a period of time to get thrown in if need be.

“I wouldn’t suggest sitting here that if Charlie didn’t make it for whatever reason then I wouldn’t be seeing him to be an option to throw straight in. If it was three or four games down the line then it would have been more of an opportunity for him.

“At the moment we’re balancing between building up core fitness and some match minutes in to him.

“At some stage we will ask him to play for the Under-23s again, possibly in central midfield rather than at the back, and see how he does.

“I like the options he gives us but we have to make sure that behind the scenes he’s working really hard so that when he’s thrust in, as he did the other night, he has to perform and help the team because everyone else is working extremely hard and playing at huge intensity levels.

“I’m sure he will, and he can, he’s a good lad working extremely hard and the choice for me is to pick and choose when he plays.

“Hopefully somewhere down the line his quality will get him in the starting team and it will be someone else’s job to try and get him out of it by playing better.”