Rovers have announced changes to their pre-season friendly at Accrington Stanley next month.

The game at the Wham Stadium will be Rovers’ first of five friendly fixtures and is scheduled for Saturday, July 9.

At the request of new Rovers head coach Jon Dahl Tomasson, there will be a change to the format. Rather than a 90 minute match, there will be two games of 60 minutes (half an hour each way) played after each other.

The kick-off for the first game will be at 3pm, with the second match to get under way shortly after 4pm.

It will allow for Rovers to hand minutes to more players, with Stanley agreeing to the request.

The club revealed that so far sold 1,750 tickets for the encounter, with around 600 still available, priced at £10 for adults and £5 for concessions.

Rovers head to Portugal on Sunday, with an extended squad set to travel, but no friendlies are scheduled while they are away.

They will return ahead of the first friendly with Stanley on July 9.

That will be followed by a second training camp in Scotland, with fixtures against Dundee (July 13) and Celtic (July 16).

Rovers were yesterday paired with pre-season opponents Hartlepool United, who will they meet on Wednesday, July 20, in the Carabao Cup first round. There are no plans to reschedule that fixture however, despite having done previous in 2016 when paired with pre-season opponents Mansfield.

Tomasson’s side will round off their pre-season plans with a trip to Lincoln City on Saturday, July 23.

They will then get their 2022/23 season under way with a home fixture against QPR.

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