Derrick Williams grabbed a late, but deserved, equaliser, as Rovers rounded off their pre-season with a 1-1 draw at Leicester City.

Williams headed in the equaliser with 10 minutes to play at the King Power Stadium, with the hosts having led through Daniel Amartey in the 67th minute after a mistake from Andrew Fisher.

It was an encouraging display from Tony Mowbray’s men, without Darragh Lenihan and Corry Evans because of international duty, ahead of their Championship opener against Bournemouth on September 12.

They dominated for large parts, and created a number of opportunities in the second half, seven days out from their opening Championship fixture.

Here’s the talking points from the final pre-season friendly…

 

DECISION TIME ON DEFENDERS

Williams scored Rovers’ late equaliser, with the defender not called up to the Republic of Ireland squad after a frustrating 2020 with injuries. He didn’t feature post lockdown, and indeed his only minutes of the calendar year came as a substitute in the FA Cup tie at Birmingham City in January.

Championship side Swansea City have joined MLS sides DC United and LA Galaxy in showing interest in him, and the suggestions are that should Rovers’ valuation for the 27-year-old be met, then his time at the club will come to an end after four years.

Mowbray’s comments prior to the Doncaster cup tie, in which Scott Wharton was preferred to Williams as Lenihan’s defensive partner, suggested the defender was keen to learn more about his future, and that his family situation could well play a part in his decision, Williams having spent time in his childhood in the US.

He marshalled a young backline well, with his reading of the game particularly impressive against a Leicester that while much-changed, did boast attacking quality in the form of Harvey Barnes, Demarai Gray and Jamie Vardy. Countless times he nipped in to win the ball, was better on the ball than sometimes he gets credit for, but his reading of the game was the main standout of his display, with one excellent block to deny Barnes.

Rovers are keen to add two new central defenders, with the likelihood of Williams moving on, but it’s a situation all round that needs to be addressed sooner rather than later. With deals having been close and faded away, Rovers will need a minimum two, and possibly up to four, defenders.

They have a host of young central defenders coming through, with Tyler Magloire impressing against Leicester, his first minutes of pre-season, and he, along with Wharton and Hayden Carter, are in limbo somewhat as they wait to learn whether they will spend this season around the first-team, or indeed get the chance to be loaned out.

While all parties may view a fresh challenge as the best for Williams, if he does stay, then rarely has he let Rovers down and a left-footed central defender, who can also cover at full back, and a happy knack of scoring a goal, is always a more than useful commodity.

 

HOW FAR FROM THE STARTING XI?

Thomas Kaminski will start training with his team-mates for the first time since his arrival from AA Gent on Monday, giving him a full week of training leading in to Bournemouth, and that should be enough for him to make his debut next weekend.

At right back, Ryan Nyambe appears a shoo-in, and Amari’i Bell on the left as things stand, with Darragh Lenihan to come back in to captain the team.

Even if there is to be an addition within the next week, it will likely be a straight shoot-out between Wharton and Williams to partner him.

In midfield, Lewis Travis and Lewis Holtby would be expected to start, as will Armstrong and Ben Brereton in attack.

The other two spots up for grabs will be the third central midfield berth, of which Bradley Johnson and Evans will compete for, and the third attacking position which Joe Rankin-Costello looks in pole position for, but Joe Rothwell will look to have something to say about that.

 

GOAL THREAT

After the departures of Danny Graham and Dominic Samuel, Rovers are already two attacking options light, so the fact that Sam Gallagher hasn’t appeared in any of the pre-season games so far is something of a concern.

Rovers have therefore looked like on attackers in their squad, but that has led to plenty of opportunities for Tyrhys Dolan and Harry Chapman, the latter who went close to scoring after his introduction.

One man who has certainly taken his goal threat from the Under-23s in to the first-team is Joe Rankin-Costello.

He scored in the Carabao Cup against Doncaster, and again when Barrow came to Brockhall in midweek, and continued to be in the thick of the action here.

He headed over a Ryan Nyambe cross in the first half before shooting too close to the keeper in the second half from a decent sight of goal on the right side of the box.

On the hour mark, in what proved to be his final act of the day, he showed fine footwork to twist his way in to a goalscoring position, drawing a fingertip save from Jakub Stolarczyk.

 

IMPORTANCE OF FULL BACKS

Rovers will ask a lot of their full backs in their 4-3-3 system. Defensively they can be exposed, with Mowbray unlikely to want his wide attackers to be tracking back too much, meaning the two wider of the midfield three will need to work hard across the pitch. While Lewis Travis helped out Ryan Nyambe on the right, the cover wasn’t quite the same for Amari’i Bell on the left.

Nyambe got forward to good effect throughout, twice bringing down crossfield passes from Holtby to break in to the box, one seeing his cross flash millimetres away from Adam Armstrong.

Because of the demands on the full backs, that could be a reasoning behind Rovers looking at the possibility of bringing in competition for Nyambe, while a left back is high on Mowbray’s priority list before the transfer window closes next month.

While it may change with the return to fitness of Bradley Dack, from watching the pre-season fixtures, it very much appears that 4-3-3 is here to stay for Rovers, at least for the foreseeable future.

That could well see a deeper role for Holtby, and a more central one for Armstrong, which he occupied at times in the second half of the campaign.