John Buckley was ‘the best player on the pitch’ as he scored twice to help Rovers Under-23s to victory at Newcastle United.

Buckley netted twice, including the winner, as Rovers signed off their Premier League International Cup with victory against the Magpies, and in doing so, eliminated them from the competition.

The 20-year-old midfielder has made 10 appearances for the senior side this season, scoring the winner against Sheffield Wednesday in November, and has been in 19 of the 22 matchday squads.

He has been short of game-time of late however, and was given the chance to stake his claim with a run-out for Barr’s side who were already out of the competition after defeats to Hertha Berlin and Benfica.

Buckley linked up well with Jack Vale, while Harry Chapman also had a good night, scoring the second in the 3-2 victory.

“That’s probably the best a 9 and 10 have combined all season for us. I thought Bucko was outstanding for most of the night and Jack looked a different player with Bucko there,” Barr said.

“So there were really encouraging signs and people have got game time, which is the biggest thing, and they’ve done well with it, so positives all round.

“I thought Bucko was the best player on the pitch by a long way. I’m delighted for him that he’s got two goals and to get two goals in 90 minutes is probably better than he hoped for before the game.”

Rovers were 2-0 up inside the opening quarter, but allowed the hosts back in to the game before the break as they tied things up by the break.

Barr was disappointed his side couldn’t capitalise more on their fine start, but felt ending the year with back-to-back wins was a positive.

He added: “In the first half, I think we had 12 chances and they had two – one was the penalty and one was a shot from outside the box.

“Bucko alone could have had a hat-trick inside 14 minutes. It was a really, really positive and encouraging start.

“And then we lost our way around 25 minutes. We started doing things that we weren’t doing and we lost our flow.

“I told them that at half-time and it was always going to be a different game in the second half, playing into the wind and them coming out with their tails up, but in the end I think we deserved the win, especially from the first-half performance.

“An encouraging end to the calendar year.”

One downside for Rovers is news that Danny Butterworth will miss much of the rest of the season with injury.

The 20-year-old suffered with a back problem earlier in the season, and had just enjoyed a run in the side, but injury has struck again.

“I don’t know exactly, we’re just waiting on the scan results coming back, but it doesn’t look like it’s going to be good news,” Barr told the club website.

“We think he’s going to be out for quite a long time, possibly three or four months, which is devastating for him.

“Obviously he started the season the same way, he’s only played a little bit of football, but we’ll know more next week.

“Let’s just hope that it’s not as bad as we first fear.”

Better news on the injury front was the return of Sam Hart, though Jacob Davenport and Dominic Samuel, regulars for the Under-23s of late, didn’t travel.

“They’ve played games,” Barr added. “You can’t play everybody.

“Jacob, I think, has played seven games on the bounce, so we had Richie (Smallwood) and Brad (Lyons), who is just coming back from injury as well. That was his first game for a while.

“We’re just trying to get as much game time via what the gaffers says in terms of what the first team players need and the Under-23s that need it as well.

“Sam Hart has been out for quite a while and that was his first game time. It’s pleasing when players come back from injury and get through it unscathed and he got 60 minutes in the bank.”