Doncaster Rovers: Update on Ali Crawford's return to training

Crawford has been out since the opening day of the season due to a knee injury and McCann has been keen to avoid setting a timeline on his return to action.

But there has been positive progress with the Scottish midfielder, who is now expected to join his team mates in full training from Monday.

'Ali, we'll probably look at next Monday with him being back in the group,' McCann said.

'We're coming along quite well.

'It's a real positive, especially with losing Tommy Rowe.

"Ali is a big player. I think people saw that in pre-season games and at Southend. He is a big player for us.

'He's been twisting and turning on the grass. He's probably a couple of weeks from being first team ready.

'He'll probably need a mini pre-season before he comes back.'

Crawford has suffered knee injuries in the past while with Scottish top flight side Hamilton.

But McCann says he will not wrap the 27-year-old in cotton wool on his return.

He said: 'It hasn't been a muscle injury for Ali. It was his medial ligament in his knee.

'If we need to push it a little bit, I'm sure we would and we could.

'We don't want to happen to him what happened at Hamilton when he was rushed back and did the same thing again.

'We have to be careful again and we will be.'

Danny Amos and Mitchell Lund have both returned to training following recent injury niggles.

And McCann revealed loanee Herbie Kane has been given the all clear after being withdrawn during the win over Luton Town on Saturday.

The midfielder missed training last week after taking a kick to his ankle and lasted 75 minutes before limping off against Luton.

McCann said: 'Herbie is good.

'He's trained the last couple of days and he's fine.'