Rovers youngster Dan Pike has been training with the first-team having caught the eye with his combative displays for the Under-23s.

Pike was in the 22-man squad named for the midweek win over Millwall, only to miss out on making the bench, but has impressed Tony Mowbray who is a regular at the Under-23s fixtures.

Ryan Nyambe is last man standing when it comes to senior right back options, with both Joe Rankin-Costello and Elliott Bennett set to miss the remainder of 2020 with injury.

That has put pressure on Nyambe, who has had hamstring issues over the course of the last two seasons, to stay fit, with the Millwall win his third start in eight days following the injury to Rankin-Costello who started at Luton.

That has left some to question who would be back-up to Nyambe, and while Mowbray may opt to switch formation, or move one of his midfielders to full back, teenager Pike has certainly impressed.

The 18-year-old was a key member of Mike Sheron's Under-18s side who reached the last four of the FA Youth Cup, while after signing a one-year professional deal, has featured in all of Rovers' eight Premier League 2 fixtures.

Mowbray has already handed Luke Brennan, since loaned to AFC Fylde, his first-team debut this year and admits the introduction of 20-man matchday squads could see more youngsters handed opportunities.

“He was in the squad the other night," he said of Pike.

“I like Dan Pike, he’s an earthy footballer, a throwback full back who likes to tackle his winger.

“He likes to run up the pitch, he passes the ball forward and he’s hard to play against.

“He is someone I like. The bottom line is ‘when do you throw them in and expose them?’

“We’re trying to win football matches, not just bring young players through.

“I’ve talked in the past about that. What does this club want? We want promotion to the Premier League.

“Somewhere along the line if we don’t feel we have the resources to do that, we can become a club who produces young footballers from our Academy, give them opportunities and then sell them on for bigger money and keep rolling it around.

“At this moment it isn’t necessarily about giving young players opportunities, other than winning games and trying to get towards the top end of the league with the players we’ve got.”