Doncaster Rovers: Ferguson on how he plans to get the best from his squad in taxing period

With Rovers all-but mathematically safe from the drop and merely looking to climb League One, Ferguson could take the opportunity to get senior experience into the club’s younger crop.

But he suggests this will depend entirely on how his senior players hold up in the taxing run of seven games in 22 days which begins on Saturday at MK Dons.

Ferguson remains keen on ensuring Rovers end the campaign strongly and secure as high a finish as possible.

“I’ll be treating each game as it comes and seeing how players are following games,” he told The Star.

“There’s obvious ones that I don’t need to mention that have played 30-odd, 40 games now.

“I have to be careful with those.

“Those players will have probably trained most days as well.

“There’s a combination of things that I can do. If the players keep hitting form and to a level I’m happy with, then it might be a case of keep rolling them out there and not letting them train.

“It’d just be about recovery.

“Or it might be a case of freshening things up completely.

“I’ve got good options that I perhaps didn’t have earlier in the season.

“Perhaps if I had them earlier in the season the players would be fresher now and wouldn’t have played as many games.

“Looking back towards the end of last season, maybe that was a problem then also.

“I feel I’ve got good scope to make changes to the side if I need to.”

Ferguson opted to hand a recovery day on Thursday to John Marquis, who worked with the club’s fitness staff rather than taking part in full training.