Tony Mowbray will assess his new recruits in training before deciding whether they’ll be part of the Rovers squad which travels to Watford.

None of the four deadline-day signings were involved in the weekend defeat to Nottingham Forest in which Rovers were down to the bare bones because of injury and Covid-related issues.

Captain Elliott Bennett was added to the injury list last week, and along with Lewis Travis will miss the remainder of the year, while Joe Rothwell and Derrick Williams are both currently self-isolating.

Rothwell was a late withdrawal from the team, having originally been due to start against Forest, with deadline-day signings Aynsley Pears, Barry Douglas, Tom Trybull and Harvey Elliott all not featuring.

The latter, on loan from Liverpool, watched in the stands, and asked if any of the new recruits will feature at Watford, the Rovers boss said: “It depends how training goes. We’ll see how they are. A lot of the players haven’t been involved for their clubs, haven’t played a game this season.

“Depending on which player we’re talking about, some of them haven’t been training with their first-team, some do.

“Some haven’t really got a physical preparation to go into a run of games so we have to manage their individual physical attributes of where they are at the minute.

“They have to get involved in training, get into a team that has a structure to it, but hopefully they will help the team win some football matches as the season unfolds.”

Rovers were down to the bare bones for the visit of Forest, with first-year professional Luke Brennan getting a place on the bench before making his senior debut late on.

Mowbray was without 11 first-team players in all, albeit four of those signed the day before the game in what was a frantic deadline day.

Corry Evans, who played three times for Northern Ireland during the international break, was making his first league start of the season for Rovers, having only returned from international duty 48 hours before kick-off.

Mowbray will hope to welcome Joe Rankin-Costello back for the trip to Watford on Wednesday to boost his ranks as Rovers enter a period of six more games in less than three weeks.

Rovers managed just one shot on target against Forest, that coming from a Ben Brereton long-range strike that was easily dealt with by Brice Samba.

And it would prove to be a frustrating afternoon for the Rovers boss who saw his side play without the fluency and intensity that has been a key facet of their start to the season.

He sent on Sam Gallagher, Harry Chapman and Brennan in the second half but that failed to provide the necessary spark as Rovers went a second successive home game without a goal.

Mowbray added: “I’m not sure we deserved too much from the game, I thought it had 0-0 written all over it.

“We didn’t have our fluency which was probably down to too many changes.

“They were forced changes and it turned into a frustrating day for us.

“I was really disappointed with our first-half performance in particular where we lacked energy, lacked drive, lacked everything that has been so good for us in the early parts of this season. It slightly improved in the second half, but we didn’t have enough shots, didn’t have enough goalmouth action.”