Doncaster Rovers: Ali Crawford makes return in U23 friendly '“ and could feature against Plymouth Argyle

The midfielder was yesterday handed his first taste of match action since suffering a knee injury against Southend United on the opening day of the season.

Crawford played during the first half of a 4-2 defeat for the club's U23s in a behind-closed-doors friendly with Scunthorpe United, scoring Rovers' second goal.

And McCann said he had limited the Scottish midfielder's playing time to 45 minutes to give him the best chance of being ready to claim a place in the squad for Saturday's trip to Plymouth Argyle.

'I spoke to him before the game and told him to just run as much as he can for 45 minutes,' McCann said.

'It's about getting that fitness blast into him.

'He's done a lot of the fitness work but it's the match time that is most important.

'We wanted to get him a good 45 minutes in.

'If we played him any longer than that it may affect him going towards the weekend.

'He definitely comes into the thinking for the weekend. He does definitely have a chance.'

Crawford pounced to turn the ball in from close range after a superb header from Will Longbottom hit the post in Tuesday's game at Cantley Park.

Longbottom had put Rovers ahead with a glancing header from an excellent Danny Amos cross with Crawford's effort making it 2-0 before half time.

But Scunthorpe scored three in an eight minute spell at the start of the second half to turn the game on its head before adding a fourth to round off the win.

Other senior players involved for Rovers included Mitchell Lund, Issam Ben Khemis and Alex Kiwomya.