Doncaster Rovers: Latest injury news on Coppinger, Blair and Alcock heading into busy festive period

Rovers play four times in nine days starting with Saturday’s trip to Bristol Rovers and Ferguson is intent on managing his squad carefully.

James Coppinger, Matty Blair and Craig Alcock all have a chance of returning this weekend but the Rovers boss will not risk losing them for longer by bringing them back to soon.

“Copps and Matty both have outside chances for Bristol Rovers,” he told The Star.

“Craig Alcock has more of a chance with his calf problem.

“I’ve got to manage this Christmas period.

“Not every player can play every game and I’ve got to find a way of getting freshness into them.

“There will be changes to personnel, there has to be.

“We’ve got Bristol to deal with and then the two home games.”

One player Ferguson expects to feature over the next fortnight is Mathieu Baudry, who has been a substitute in recent weeks.

He said: “If I go with the back four I have to see whether Joe Wright and Andy Butler can play the four games in nine days.

“I’d be surprised if Frenchie [Baudry] doesn’t play in some of the games.

“I think we’ve got to get freshness in, it’s as simple as that.

“We had a meeting on Tuesday about it, certain things I want to do over the period.

“There are certain players that just will not be able to play all the games, maybe because they’re coming back from injury and us not wanting to make it worse.

“Can people like Jordan Houghton get through it with his knee.

“We’ve got a plan moving forward but that could change because we don’t know what is going to happen in each individual game.”