Doncaster Rovers: Ferguson keen to remain upbeat despite injuries

Ferguson’s side begin the new campaign on Saturday at Accrington Stanley and could be without eight senior players following a raft of injuries.

The Rovers boss has refused to let the positivity of early summer evaporate completely.

But he says plenty of hard work is still to be done before the big kick off.

“The last couple of weeks have been a bit of a blow for us,” Ferguson told The Star. “But other than that it’s been fine.

“We’re just trying to make sure we get in as much work on the training ground and they get that in the games.

“We saw some good stuff at York and some stuff we clearly need to work on.

“I think every team will say the same at this stage of the year.

“Generally you don’t get up to speed until a few games in.

“We’ve got make sure we hit the ground running.”

Rovers yesterday took part in a behind-closed-doors friendly to get much-needed game time for the squad after friendlies against Kidderminster Harriers and Coventry City were cancelled due to the injury crisis.

Ferguson admits it has been difficult for his players to show during games that they are taking in his ideas due to injuries.

After Luke McCullough was forced off at York City last week, Rovers were knocked off their stride for a 20 minute spell.

He said: “It was getting a little bit unsettled within the games because we were picking up injuries.

“That is not an excuse – you just have to get on with it.

“But when you pick up injuries in a game you lose that flow to your game and you could see that against York.”