Joe Rankin-Costello continued his comeback from injury with minutes in a behind closed doors friendly.

Tony Mowbray had intended to see Rankin-Costello to play twice more after his injury return in the Premier League 2 fixture with Leicester City last month, before being considered for first-team duty.

But after coming through a behind closed doors match with Morecambe, the 22-year-old didn’t feature in a youthful side who lost 4-1 to Nottingham Forest in the Premier League Cup on Monday night.

That was explained by the fact he got minutes under his belt in a bounce game with Morecambe that ended 2-2.

Rankin-Costello hasn’t played for the first-team since fracturing his metatarsal in the Good Friday defeat at Wycombe Wanderers, but he could return to action when Rovers are back in Championship action against Luton Town on Saturday.

The game during the international break offered valuable minutes to a number of players who have been short of game-time of late, and for others to push their claims for more involvement.

Jacob Davenport is yet to start for Rovers this season but played in the game against the League One side who last month knocked them out of the Carabao Cup.

Jake Garrett has started all three Premier League 2 matches this season and was on the bench for the opening two Championship matches and got chance to impress Mowbray with another run-out, but didn’t play against Nottingham Forest owing to a minor injury concern.

Tyrhys Dolan, as he did in the Carabao Cup tie, was on target and will be looking to take advantage of Ben Brereton’s absence this week and eyeing a return to the starting line-up.

Dan Butterworth was Rovers’ other scorer, tucking away a penalty that he won, and another whose claims for more regular match time will have been boosted by the lack of transfer activity.

Aynsley Pears, Dan Pike and Tyler Magloire were others to feature in the match, with those more involved in the opening weeks of the season afforded some time off during the break.