With no new faces through the door, Rovers are hoping to receive a fitness boost from their current squad ahead of the weekend trip to Bradford City.

Concerns over John Buckley have been eased with news that his replacement just half an hour into the weekend friendly at Everton was nothing more than a precaution.

Any extended absence would have been a real blow to Tony Mowbray’s midfield options, with a shortage of players in that area of the pitch already not helped by the injury sustained to Bradley Johnson at AFC Fylde.

Johnson, the club’s most experienced player, had to be replaced in the first half of the opening friendly with a hamstring strain and sat out the Everton fixture, and could also miss this weekend’s trip to face the Bantams.

Rovers were able to name a stronger side at Finch Farm that against Fylde, with Thomas Kaminski, Darragh Lenihan, Daniel Ayala and Adam Armstrong all getting their first minutes of the close season.

Kaminski was the first player to come through 90 minutes, while Lenihan joined Ryan Nyambe, Harry Pickering, Lewis Travis, Jacob Davenport and Dan Butterworth in getting through an hour.

More players will hope to get that under their belts, not least defender Ayala who is in need of minutes having not had a pre-season last year, and then making just 10 appearances in his debut campaign.

Another positive is news that Ben Brereton will return to Rovers in the next 48 hours after his exploits with Chile in their World Cup qualifiers and Copa America campaign.

The 22-year-old, with a new-found fame and army of South American supporters, was afforded some time off following the conclusion of the Copa America earlier this month but will be back at Brockhall to undergo his pre-season testing.

Brereton’s fitness will be assessed, but having trained regularly, and played five matches, during his six weeks away with La Roja, that shouldn’t be an issue for the attacker.

Mowbray is expected to resist the temptation of using him against Bradford, the likelihood being he will be deemed ready to play in the game against Leeds at Ewood Park next week.

The return of Brereton will afford Mowbray more options, and the prospect of looking at different things in a bid to get them firing at the top end of the pitch.

Back-up goalkeeper Aynsley Pears is still to make an appearance in the opening two friendlies, with Jordan Eastham and Antonis Stergiakis the reserve options to Kaminski at Everton having shared the minutes at Fylde.

Another is Sam Gallagher, the 25-year-old attacker enduring a frustrating start to pre-season for the second year in a row. Gallagher failed to feature in last summer’s condensed close season matches, and subsequently missed the early weeks of the campaign.

However, he now stepped up his work, and while the Bradford game may come too soon, it is hoped that he will be able to get some minutes under his belt, in either of next week’s game against Leeds United (July 28) and Bolton Wanderers (July 31) to put himself in contention for the opening day visit of Swansea City.

That is the target of Joe Rankin-Costello who has started back running on the Brockhall training pitches after three months out with a fractured metatarsal.

His season was ended when picking up the injury in the Good Friday defeat at Wycombe Wanderers but his return, and versatility, would be a big boost for manager Mowbray heading into the new campaign.

The 21-year-old made 16 starts last season on either side of the defence, as well as in his more preferred attacking role, his game-time limited by two absences through hamstring issues.

Rankin-Costello made his real breakthrough last season, and fellow Academy graduate Dan Butterworth will hope to do the same in 2021/22 after a frustrating time of things with injuries.

He’s played a big hand in the opening two matches and will hope to have a similar impact at Bradford on Saturday to continue pushing for a greater involvement in the squad next season.

The stand-out performer of last summer, Tyrhys Dolan, hasn’t had the start to pre-season that he would have wanted, and he is behind both Gallagher and Rankin-Costello in his work, putting the teenager’s involvement in the upcoming friendlies in doubt.

Scott Wharton has stepped his comeback from a ruptured Achilles seven months ago by getting back running, and has set a target of returning to action by September.

With the season started by then, minutes for the Under-23s will be key for the 23-year-old, with Rovers having used their Premier League 2 fixtures as game-time for their senior players on the comeback trail.

Billy Barr’s side saw their friendly at Gateshead postponed at the weekend, with their next match being the Lancashire Senior Cup final against Wigan Athletic on Friday, July 30.

The other long-term injury is Bradley Dack, the attacker sidelined by his second ACL injury in a little over a year.

Dack underwent surgery in the wake of the injury sustained in the defeat to Brentford in March and is working behind the scenes to get back ahead of schedule, his last absence being marred by niggling injuries towards the back end of his rehabilitation meant it was 12 months between his injury and Boxing Day return to action.